From festivals to fine dining

Eddie Wrenn, III has made a mark in the Edmond culinary scene, owning multiple restaurants and driving innovation in the food scene. We dive deep into his life, experiences, and aspirations for the future.

Q: When did you first get started in the food industry?

A: I was probably ten or eleven. My grandfather owned, nowadays it would be food trucks, but they were like tents you would pop up. So we would go to festivals and fairs and we would run blooming onions and burritos and tacos, big like 4th of July festivals. Anything that was a festival we traveled to and did food service. So I started there and then in ’86 I got my work permit and then I started. Actually learned a lot from McDonald’s. I wish I still had the name tag. It said Grill Master Ed. learned a lot because I was with the family business and it was kind of nice to get structure and manuals and policies and procedures and stuff.

I started with McDonald’s and then kind of never looked back. I went to corporate restaurants until 2014. I got married really early really young, and had a child really young, and just did corporate restaurants. I did a twelve-year run with TGI Fridays. I moved up to every level except for the vice president. I went to the director of ops level with them. I did a run with Outback for a little bit. I learned quite a bit from them and Raising Canes and Pappadeaux Seafood.

Q: So what made you decide to leave and when did you leave the corporate world and go out on your own?

A: Somebody was always asking me “Why are you working for somebody else?” and I always had to answer that. “Well, you know, they sent me to the Dominican Republic with my wife  and that’s 401k and I got all this great insurance” and it wasn’t good enough. 

So I left and I started a catering company first. I tried to establish the catering as a fallback.  So my goal was to own a catering company with a restaurant attached. Most people own a restaurant with a catering company attached. So we catered first than restaurants. It seemed to work out because when I opened on September 15 I thought people were going to blow my doors off and no one came in. It was pretty scary, but we had the catering to fall back on and it kept the doors open

Actually, during COVID, we really blew wide open. We built this during COVID. It was awful to be doing construction draws and only be open for lunch down there across the street from UCO. We only did to-go, and we’re having to fund projects like this. It was pretty rough. Then we opened and it was everything was good.

Q: What was the biggest challenge to opening? 

A: Yeah, we penned the deal before the pandemic. I remember it was a Wednesday night and Rudy Gobert, I think, was the guy who was playing for Oklahoma City Thunder and looked up at the screen, and they were evacuating.

I didn’t really know what a pandemic meant right off the top of my head. I asked my general manager, I go, “What’s a pandemic mean?” He goes, “Not good”. I remember saying that I wasn’t going to close my doors. It was St. Patty’s day. So within one week, we went from all excited to open a new restaurant and everything was now as it should be and then boom. So it was scary. People throw things at me all the time. I’m like, man, you can’t do anything to me. If you got through that and thrived and are still open there’s not much people can throw at you worse than that, right?

Q: What was the first restaurant you opened?

A: I opened Eddie’s first in 2015. My daughter opened as a general manager. She got married almost four years ago now. It’s a family business, so her husband is my facilities manager. She’s a beverage director. So it’s super family-focused. We opened Eddie’s then Eddie’s Hott Wings. I started getting into the kitchen and the design and the layout and realized Edmond was missing something cool that doesn’t just have good food. Cause we have a couple of restaurants in town that are really good food and Edmond, but I was missing that date night cool atmosphere. 

I started looking at that but it was a new new concept. So that’s pretty ballsy in that time frame to be unproven concepts new around covid still lingering and so we just went at it. Hired a couple of good chefs, One of them with me was with me since he was 15 years old. Josh Rains is the chef up there and he’s family. He’s my daughter’s husband’s brother. He runs The Lounge and we we travel quite a bit just to see what’s hot right now. You know, Shannon, my wife, she says all the time, quit comparing restaurants to Dallas and Chicago, Vegas and I’ll get inspired by something at Drake’s Hollywood.

Q: So how many restaurants do you own?

A: We have four. We have Eddie’s here. We have this one in Edmond, which is our kind of mothership. It’s the engine that drives our entire business. My catering kitchen is cool. Then I have The Lounge, which is up the street. My little side project. And then Eddie’s Hott Wings, which is in The Rail Yard. So five companies, five facilities, but four restaurants and the catering company.

Q: Tell me about the different concepts.

A: Eddie’s is going to be a little loud. If the Cowboys are playing or there’s an OU, OSU, baseball, football game the sound is gonna be up. So it’s kind of a higher-end sports bar if that’s the right term. Burgers, ribeyes, Cajun shrimp and chicken pasta is my favorite dish that we cook here.

For The Lounge I try to create an atmosphere. Being from upstate New York, everyone was in finished basements and a lot of people here don’t know what finished basements are, but they’re underneath your house. So I did it like a 1970s basement in upstate New York. Come in in a hooded sweatshirt and have a cocktail at the bar or dress up and come out for date night.

It’s come as you are. It doesn’t have to be stiff. You know what I mean? That’s why I want it to be called The Lounge.

Eddie’s Hott Wings is 1308 square feet over in the rail yard. It just cranks wings. It takes some of our best appetizers here. We got some killer salads over there too. Really nice patio over there as well.

Q: What’s next for you?

A: I like to be innovative and do some first things. I see all the growth going that way. Something on a lake that’s not there. I’m going to say Lake Arcadia, but something like that, you know what I mean? I love the setting of like a Red Rock Canyon grill, but with my brand and I’m developing a concept right now. It’s a higher-end pizza concept with a rooftop, um, that would overlook some form of body of water, wherever I can find the real estate and kind of be first would be what I want to do next.

Q: So is there anything I didn’t ask or anything you want to add?

A: Some people say eat local, but they’re part of big groups. So there’s no backer, there’s no banker, there’s no investor, there’s nothing. It’s our family. So it’s my wife. A couple of chefs have been with me for a long time, ten years plus. My daughter, and my son-in-law, so it’s super family. I only eat locally just cause I like to spend my money where I feel like it stays in the community.

A moment of truth for me is when, if you leave my restaurant and you say that the manager was cool or that server was really good or the food was good or man, I really liked the yacht rock radio that was on the radio and you can pinpoint things. I think that’s where you lose the “remarkable, memorable, one-of-a-kind experience”. That’s the biggest phrase I use all the time. And I want it when you put your key in your ignition to be like, I don’t know what it was about that place, but I can’t wait to go back.