Southern comfort food is getting a major New York City address. Kitchen + Kocktails by Kevin Kelley, the fast-growing restaurant concept known for elevated Southern cuisine, crafted cocktails and its signature “Welcome Home” hospitality, is preparing to open in Times Square this fall.
The nearly 10,000-square-foot restaurant will be located at 7 Times Square, just one block south of the site where thousands gather each New Year’s Eve to watch the famous ball drop. The New York location marks another major milestone for founder Kevin Kelley, a litigation attorney who has built a rapidly expanding restaurant business in just six years.
Kelley opened his first Kitchen + Kocktails location in Dallas in 2020, launching the restaurant during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the challenges facing the hospitality industry at the time, the concept quickly gained traction and has since expanded to Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, Philadelphia and Miami. New York is among the latest additions, with Boston also planned as part of the brand’s continued expansion.
While the restaurant’s growth has been swift, Kelley’s connection to food began long before he entered the restaurant business.
Born in Arkansas and raised in Texas, Kelley learned how to cook when he was just seven years old, working alongside his grandmother. Her lessons extended beyond recipes and techniques. She taught him that preparing and sharing food is a way of making people feel valued and welcomed.
That philosophy has become central to Kitchen + Kocktails, where Kelley seeks to recreate the feeling of gathering at home while giving traditional Southern dishes an elevated restaurant experience.
The Times Square location will bring that approach to one of the busiest destinations in the city, giving visitors and New Yorkers another option for Southern-inspired dining in Midtown Manhattan.
Kelley’s journey is also notable because his restaurant career developed alongside his legal profession. As a litigation attorney turned restaurateur, he has taken an entrepreneurial path that has transformed a personal connection to cooking into a growing national hospitality brand.
The company’s expansion reflects the continued popularity of Southern comfort food, while its hospitality-focused identity aims to distinguish Kitchen + Kocktails from traditional fast-casual and full-service restaurant concepts.
With locations already operating in several major U.S. cities, the Times Square opening represents an important step in Kelley’s national expansion strategy. New York’s competitive restaurant scene will provide a high-profile setting for the brand as it introduces its take on Southern comfort food to a new audience.
As Kitchen + Kocktails prepares to open its doors this fall, Kelley is bringing more than a restaurant to Times Square. He is bringing a business rooted in a childhood lesson from his grandmother: food can be one of the most meaningful ways to make people feel at home.