Bowlcuts opens new restaurant in downtown Tulsa

TULSA, Okla. — A new restaurant is opening in downtown Tulsa that began doing pop-up events, meal prep delivery, and catering.

Bowlcuts serves made-to-order bowls made with fresh ingredients. Emma Shirley, the owner and founder of Bowlcuts, is a graduate of the Kitchen 66 program at Mother Road Market which is designed to provide affordable kitchen space for local food entrepreneurs and reduce the barriers to success.

"It's very exciting," says Shirley. "It's been kind of a new day everyday. We learn more every single day. The respond we've gotten from the community has been outstanding. We're just completely overwhelmed with support and business from the community. Honestly, it's been great."

Shirley says everyday has just been a dream come true. She describes Bowlcuts as a fast-casual restaurant that specializes in healthy cooked-to-order food. She says 90% of their ingredients are raw until they are ordered. They try to source what they can from the local farmer's market. With the opening of the new place, Shirley said it taught her a lot of new things.

"A lot of the learning has been how to manage a team. How to step away a little bit. How to let people make the dishes and make sure that they're still coming out exactly the way we want them to. That's been a huge learning curve for me."

Abel Aguilar, Kitchen and Program Manager for Kitchen 66, has know Shirley for a few years and has seen her come up in the program and has been proud of her progress.

"As she's proven everyday after she's left our doors," says Aguilar. "This young lady bootstraps and gets it on her own. Super proud of Emma."

Aguilar says Shirley was one of their first entrepreneurs that Kitchen 66 worked with on outside partnerships. When Shirley was getting ready to open the first brick-and-mortar location, Aguilar says he had a lot of questions for her and she was able to answer them all.

"For her to see me as somebody who was going to be instrumental in helping the business, I just felt very honored and so I poured in. I gave up all the contacts I have in the food industry and now she has them and as I was telling a colleague earlier, in this industry we are kind of all we have so we try and partner with each other as best as we can. Knowing those people in your industry are your best assets and your best tools or your best resources so utlize them."

Shirley says she has plans for over the next 20 years.

Bowlcuts is located at 522 South Boston Avenue Suite 104 if you would like to check it out. It is closed on weekends and has reduced hours on Mondays, but is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuedays thru Fridays.

Bowlcuts opens new restaurant in downtown Tulsa

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