COLLEGE PARK, GA. – On a cool Friday morning on Main Street in College Park, a man grabs boxes out of the trunk of a car and loads them onto a hand truck. Then he and one of his employees made their way into the front door of his restaurant, Tom, Dick, & Hank.
Located across the street from the MARTA station, Tom, Dick, & Hank (TDH) is one of the many restaurants that dot the city’s main drag. Like many metro Atlanta restaurants, the idea for Tom, Dick, & Hank, a BBQ spot that offers smoked wings, traditional sides, burgers, fries, and drinks from its full bar, stemmed from a love of cooking with family.
“I guess I always cooked, and I learned a little bit from my grandparents,” Hank Johnson, 51, the man with the boxes, said.
Johnson said it was his smoker rig that started the whole thing. The wings at TDH are smoked on-site and offer customers a BBQ taste that stems from the passion Johnson developed early in life and honed as a neophyte business owner in 2014 when he opened TDH. He and his brother used to smoke wings and sell them at festivals, fairs, and outside of clubs. The taste and quality of service kept customers coming back and birthed the idea for a brick-and-mortar establishment.
TDH was born out of hustle and love of cooking. The first official TDH location was a stand on Ponce De Leon Avenue, across the street from the Krispy Kreme.
“It was takeout only,” Johnson remembers. “My brother had two grills, I had one, and we just got out there and did our thing.”
The menu at TDH includes smoked wings, dry rub wings, brisket, pulled pork, leg quarter plates, and salads. There are also the restaurant’s housemade BBQ chips. The chips are topped with pulled turkey, pork, or chicken, and include queso, diced tomatoes, and jalapenos.
Johnson has teamed up with fellow restaurateur Corrina Martinez, the owner of Blue Cantina, a Mexican-Southern fusion restaurant that has two locations in Atlanta. The owners partnered up a year ago in order to strengthen both businesses. Johnson described Martinez as more of the networking and facilitating star of the business, while he is most comfortable remaining the front-facing and hands-on piece of the partnership.
“Iron sharpens iron, and steel sharpens steel,” Johnson said of the partnership. “She’s the face of the franchise now, and I’m more like Ronald McDonald. I’m a clown.”
Johnson said other benefits to partnering with a successful business owner are the shared work, different insights, and that he learns from Martinez how she runs her business. Martinez told The Atlanta Voice that she feels the same about the partnership.
“The benefit of this collaboration is that we have two opposing skillsets,” Martinez, a self-described analytics person, said by phone. “Part of that is learning from each other, and we feel we have a strong partnership.”
Asked what he enjoys most about the restaurant business, Johnson said it was the people.
“I like dealing with the people in the community. In this business, you get to see people grow,” said Johnson, who shared stories of hosting high school and college graduation parties, engagement parties, and catered homegoing celebrations in his business over the past decade.
“That’s the best and the worst part,” Johnson laughed. “We do it all.”
There are more of those moments to come, says Johnson, who shared that he and Martinez have plans in place to expand the business in the future. TDH once had a second location on Ralph David Abernathy Blvd. in Mechanicsville. It opened in March 2015, a year after the College Park location opened, and was successful by all accounts, Johnson explained.
The parking situation was high on the list of the reasons Johnson said the Mechanicsville location would eventually be closed. “The space was just changing. I was sandwiched between those two clubs, and I couldn’t really control the element.”
On the other hand, TDH’s College Park location allows for plenty of parking, usage of public transportation, and walking for its customers.
Johnson said he has been feeling a trend of customers looking to remain closer to home, and that’s good for business. College Park has a population of nearly 14,000, and the continued growth of American downtowns and public squares has helped the business as well.
“Places like Stockbridge, McDounough, Douglasville, people are just staying in all of their little pockets,” Johnson said.
As for what is new at the one and only TDH, Johnson was excited to talk about the lab ribs that are debuting in December. “Everybody is doing lab chops, so I said let’s do something different,” Johnson.
The smoked wings remain a staple, but the welcoming staff of servers, managers, and bartenders at TDH set the foundation of the business, Johnson explained.
He added that the restaurant grills oysters on Wednesdays and that the promotion has been well-received by patrons. Keeping the TDH menu familiar, yet exciting, has been a challenge Johnson readily accepts.
“You have to keep at it, and keep innovating, but stick to what you do best,” Johnson said. “I’ve seen a lot of people come, and a lot of people go.”
TDH is still here. A sign on the wall near the bar states, “Happiness is a plate of brisket on a cold day!”
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