Flo’s Burger Diner is on Route 66 — at 11th Street and Birmingham Avenue — in Tulsa.
It all started around Christmas of 2015, when the Adkins children were sitting around listing all the big-ticket items they wanted to find underneath the tree.
“My kids were acting like spoiled brats,” says Brandy Adkins. “They’d forgotten the meaning of the season.”
Adkins had opened Flo’s Burger Diner in Catoosa in 2014, and it had achieved some success. But, she decided, Christmas 2015 needed to be about teaching her children a life lesson instead of buying them a lot of presents.
Brandy Adkins (right) and Christia Kelley dish food into containers at this month’s Flo’s Free Family Meals at Flo’s Burger Diner in Tulsa on Sunday.
So that year, Adkins opened her restaurant on Christmas and gave free meals to anyone who showed up. Her kids joined her and helped with the work.
Other than a few months during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine, Adkins and her family have managed to continue “Flo’s Free Family Meal” every month for the past six years.
On Sunday night, the Adkins family was cooking and serving again at the Flo’s Burger Diner location at 11th Street and Birmingham Avenue in Tulsa. Something different is served every month. Sometimes it is fried chicken or spaghetti, but this night, it was breakfast for dinner — scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, sausage, fried potatoes and fruit.
Hayden Adkins, 14, arranges hygiene bags on the counter at Flo’s Burger Diner. In addition to meals, customers are offered the bags, which contain soap, a toothbrush, toothpaste, socks, feminine hygiene products, and a lollipop and an assortment of pencils and little prizes for the kids.
As the line formed outside, Kylie Adkins, now 12 years old, and her older brother, Hayden, 14, arranged bags of supplies on the counter for anyone who needed them. The bags contained soap, a toothbrush, toothpaste, socks, feminine hygiene products, a lollipop and an assortment of pencils and little prizes for the kids.
There’s no proof of need required, no names taken, no questions asked. Anyone who shows up can get a meal. And the demand is increasing.
Breakfast for dinner, with eggs, biscuits and gravy, sausage, potatoes and fruit, is served at the monthly Flo’s Free Family Meal at Flo’s Burger Diner in Tulsa on Sunday.
“We used to get 50 to 60 people, but lately we’re closer to 350 people,” Adkins said. She estimates that 80% are repeat customers.
As Sunday night came to a close, Adkins reported that 385 people ate breakfast for dinner at her restaurant.
Brandy Adkins customizes an order for a child who preferred jelly over gravy on his biscuit during the Flo’s Free Family Meal at Flo’s Burger Diner in Tulsa on Sunday.
She says she preferred it when people could sit down in the restaurant and eat a hot meal off a plate, but due to pandemic precautions, many people take their meals to go.
The next “Flo’s Free Family Meal” will be in three weeks and will be announced on Facebook and social media. Donations to the monthly meal can be made through Paypal chefadkins82@gmail.com or CashApp $flosplates, or they can be dropped off at the restaurant at 2604 E. 11th in Tulsa.
Dennis Adkins places a pan of biscuits at the window for his wife to serve to people in need at Flo's Burger Diner in Tulsa on Sunday.
The Flo's Burger Diner menu boards are on display as Brandy Adkins serves food during this month's Flo's Free Family Meals in Tulsa on Sunday.
Brandy Adkins watches cars arrive outside her restaurant on Route 66 in Tulsa as she serves food during Flo's Free Family Meals at Flo's Burger Diner.
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John Clanton
Photo Editor
I have worked for the Tulsa World since 2006. I previously worked at The Oklahoman and newspapers in Shawnee, Edmond and Enid in Oklahoma. I graduated from UCO with a journalism degree. Phone: 918-581-8829
