By Andrea Durán
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Khari and Shawn Parker opened Connie’s Chicken and Waffles less than two years ago and already the Food Network named their waffles as the best in Maryland, The Baltimore Sun voted their signature dish as second-best Best Chicken Box and a Southwest Airlines magazine mentioned the business in an article on Baltimore City.
The brothers are overjoyed by the publicity but realize the responsibility that comes with it.
“It’s almost surreal, it kinda made us say ‘the heat is on,’ ” said Shawn, waving his arms excitedly. “I mean, we were already pushing for a 10 and now pushing for an 11 or 15 or 20.”
Connie’s Chicken and Waffles is named after the Parker brother’s mother, a warm, friendly woman in her early 60s who frequently lends a hand either in the kitchen, with customer service, or with inventory. The first store opened in Lexington Market in June 2016. The Food Network named Connie’s waffles as best in Maryland as part of its “50 States of Waffles” series.
“We’ve definitely seen more people come in …,” said Khari, adjusting his tortoise shell glasses and running a hand through his chin-length locs. “It’s so crazy. One day someone just came up to us and said ‘do you know about this?’ and showed us the article.”
Shawn tips his baseball cap closer to his face and adjusts his blue-framed glasses in agreement.
To keep from being distracted by the publicity, the brothers tackle their tasks of running the business with the paradoxical intensity of a well-oiled machine and the organic devotion of a proud parent. They recently opened a second location at Charles Plaza.
The Parkers are extremely hands on and are constantly on call, starting their day at 7 a.m. with business meetings, morning brainstorming and strategy sessions focused on everything from inventory and expanding their business to boosting employee morale. The day sometimes does not end until 10 p.m.
The business is still relatively new, so they only have 11 trusted employees – called “teammates” – who are hired locally at both locations. Typically, they have two employees working at the stores at a time, one prepping and cooking with the other handling customers.
The Parker brothers sometimes hire up to 25 people when they participate in events such as the Broccoli City Festival, Artscape, and Legends and Legacies Jubilee.
“The key is communication,” said Khari, 37, who holds a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park and master’s degrees each in Information Technology and Business Administration.
“Whenever we’re deciding something new for our menu, it has to be unanimous with the entire team because we don’t want to serve something we wouldn’t serve to our employees. We’re always listening to our customers …,” he said.
Shawn credits his mother with giving her sons “the basics and we definitely got a little more creative with it.”
The waffles’ key ingredient is the family-owned secret seasoning. New items are added to the menu only after each teammate votes to do so. Whether it is Oreo cookie or red-velvet waffles, everyone must agree and then pay careful attention to customer feedback. At one point, the eatery served chicken breast until customers told the brothers it was “too much.” The Parkers changed to chicken tenders.
Connie’s employees now handle making the batter for the waffles, but it is the “family secret” seasoning for their chicken and now for shrimp, the latest addition to their menu, that makes all the difference.
“The Connie Experience” is how the brothers describe not only the mouth-watering dishes but the customer service too. Although Khari and Shawn own and operate the business, their mother Connie is considered the backbone. The Parker brothers’ work ethic clearly was inherited from their mother, who spends “4 to 6 days out of the week and wants to stay all day,” Khari said.
Connie, who had worked in customer service for 40 years, will go out of her way to please customers, making certain that if a customer wants something––like sugar free syrup––he or she gets it immediately or during the next visit.
“She’s like magic, like a super woman,” Khari said. “As her son, I always got to experience her love and warmth but now the whole city gets to. She has this motherly or grandmotherly ability to touch people and connect with them.”
The idea for the eatery began more than four years ago. Shawn, 33, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Coppin State University and a graduate degree from the University of Maryland University College, traveled with his brother as Khari worked on writing a book. The Parker brothers consumed chicken and waffles throughout California, Arizona, and Las Vegas. At the time, they realized that the Baltimore area lacked a more casual chicken and waffles place. They decided to go with what they knew; their mother’s cooking and their father John’s entrepreneurial help.
Khari did publish his book, “The Lost Curriculum: What School Didn’t Teach Us About Personal Finance,” in 2014.
“Growing up in Baltimore, there were a lot of opportunities to go down the wrong direction, but our parents always prioritized our education,” Khari said. “Our parents were always really supportive and pushed us to set goals and held us accountable to achieve them.”
The Parker brothers have their share of competition. Chicken and waffles are featured dishes at restaurants like Miss Shirley’s Cafe, Simply Marie’s, Maggie’s Farm, and Saturday Morning Café – all mentioned in a 2015 article from CBS Baltimore. However, Connie’s Chicken and Waffles’ edge comes from having a “homey” and “fast food atmosphere” instead of a “fine dining” experience.
The first year for the business was tough but also exciting, the brothers said. For the first six months, it was just Khari and Shawn with the help they had from their mother. After that, the first hire was a man who used to be one of their customers.
“The first year was just trial and error like every day, seeing what working and not working,” Khari said. “We began to take notes of everything, learning the restaurant business and the three of us were working non-stop, easily 16 hours a day.”
After about two months, the brothers hired more and younger employees, partnering with Youth Opportunity Baltimore (YO Baltimore) and the Baltimore City Public Schools to hire high schoolers who want experience in the working world. The program with YO Baltimore lasted about six months and now the majority of their team is from outside the program. Some temporary hires – those employed for special events or a pop-up stands – become full- or part-time.
Both brothers have dreams of franchising the business, or just expanding to more locations. But for now, Khari and Shawn said their focus is here and now and with their customers.
Regulars of Connie’s Chicken and Waffles will often stop by to say hello to Connie if she’s there. Children often show her their report cards, while others come for relationship advice. More often than not, customers will ask to take a picture with her that is sometimes posted to Connie’s Chicken and Waffles’ Instagram page.
The Parkers said these customer visits reinforce their desire to keep the company as “organic” as possible, while maintaining a “down-home feel” and “down-home taste” instead of a commercial one.
“I really see it taking off and going places,” said Karniece Dortch, 24, an employee at Connie’s in Charles Plaza for about three weeks. “I’m pretty happy and excited to be part of the team, it has a really big family feel to it.”
While the Parker brothers are grateful for the recent publicity, Khari said, “it’s so important that we never get caught up in the hype, that we stay grounded. We say ‘hey, that’s good, we appreciate the acknowledgement but what can we do better?’ ”