In 2022, LTFF celebrated this milestone by continuing our work through Mother Road Market, Kitchen 66, and Shops at Mother Road Market while supporting the development of Tulsa Market District.

We are so excited to be welcoming 21 eager food entrepreneurs to the Kitchen 66 and Cocina 66 Fall Launch Program where they will gain practical experience, sales training and access to commercial kitchen space to develop culinary skills in a commercial environment.

In 2021, Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation worked with community leader Elian Hurtado, UMA Tulsa, and our own program, Kitchen 66, to collaborate on a new project called Cocina 66. This pilot program was a translated Spanish version of the Kitchen 66 Launch Program, which has been helping food entrepreneurs in Tulsa launch their concepts since 2016.

Our Kitchen 66 team is excited to welcome another new face in 2022, Karissa Smith! This native Tulsan is ready to promote Tulsa FOOD with her wealth of knowledge in the culinary industry.

What started out as a small pop-up in Kendall Whittier and The Vault has grown into a popular retail kiosk inside Mother Road Market. We sat down with Esther Wright, owner of Hilo de Amor, to talk about her retail journey and how she ultimately started her business to help others.

Larry Faulkner joined the Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation in February 2022 as the Chief Financial Officer, providing financial, reporting and accounting support for all programs.

We have exciting changes to announce at LTFF! First, a huge congratulations to LTFF’s President and CEO, the founder of Mother Road Market and Kitchen 66, Elizabeth Frame Ellison for taking the next step in carrying on the vision of LTFF by stepping into the role of Chairwoman of the Board effective June 1, 2022.

Kitchen 66 welcomes new Program Director, KateLynn Dunning to the team! KateLynn's extensive culinary background offers the K66 program and Tulsa food entrepreneurs a wealth of experience under new leadership.

This March, we are celebrating women and amplifying the voices of our female entrepreneurs on the Mother Road Market campus. From foodies to retail business owners, each of these women have made a profound impact on the Tulsa community and beyond.

Continuing our 5 questions series, we wanted to touch base with an entrepreneur from our Kitchen 66 program. We couldn’t think of anyone better than our recent Launch Program graduate and Takeover Cafe rockstar, Manila Ice!

The Lobeck Taylor family built its charitable foundation (LTFF) upon a dream of supporting Tulsans with big ideas. A critical part of this dream was to decrease barriers to success, especially among underestimated entrepreneurs, largely female and BIPOC, who face additional challenges accessing resources.

A huge thank you to Sami for taking the time to answer our questions. We are thrilled to see her dream grow into the huge success that is Big Dipper Creamery!

Mother Road Market has experienced trial and error with innovation in the food and retail space. But thanks to our tenacious entrepreneurs and skilled leadership, we are a success story in progress.