The LeBron James Family Foundation is getting into the restaurant game in a big way, opening Buckets, a chicken-forward sports bar and grill inside House Three Thirty in downtown Akron, with opening day set for April 1. The new spot will serve fried, roasted and "tender" chicken plates with classic sides and private viewing rooms, and menu prices are intentionally pegged to end in .23 as a nod to LeBron's jersey number. The project is also part of the foundation's broader move into hospitality and job training, already bringing new hires and hands-on learning opportunities to the neighborhood.
Menu, prices and staffing
As reported by Cleveland.com, Buckets, the LeBron James Family Foundation’s first full-service restaurant, will focus on fried, roasted and "tender" chicken meals paired with fries, cornbread muffins, cinnamon honey butter, coleslaw and a signature "Buckets" sauce. The outlet notes that the menu features a pimento-cheese dip called "Yo Prometo Cheese and Fried Crackers" priced at $8.23 and pull-apart sloppy-joe sliders named "Oh The Places You'll Go" at $14.23, with most prices ending in .23 as a direct tribute to James’ jersey number. The foundation has started building out a roughly 50-person team to staff the restaurant, according to the report.
Where it will be and when it opens
The University of Akron’s athletics site lists Buckets at House Three Thirty, giving the official address as 532 W. Market St., and confirms an April 1 opening date in an event listing that doubled as promotion for an NCAA first-round watch party at the venue. According to Akron Athletics, that watch party was scheduled to take place in the space ahead of the restaurant's formal debut.
House Three Thirty’s role
House Three Thirty is the LeBron James Family Foundation’s multi-use community venue, home to food, retail and programming geared toward I PROMISE families since opening. The building has already hosted partner operations, including The Taco Shop by Old El Paso, which was announced as a foundation partnership in 2022, and its dining spaces are intentionally used as hands-on job training sites for program participants. See the early Buckets progress on the I PROMISE School site and the Old El Paso partnership reported via Nasdaq/BusinessWire.
Michele Campbell, executive director of the LeBron James Family Foundation, told Cleveland.com that the venue is designed to bring members of the I PROMISE community together and create "something pretty special." The restaurant will feature private rooms as part of its event and viewing-room lineup, including a "1984 Room" inspired by James’s birth year.
Chef Aaron Blank has been listed as part of House Three Thirty’s culinary leadership, and the foundation has been using its dining spaces as training pipelines, with I PROMISE programming feeding into hospitality roles, according to the I PROMISE School. That hands-on model has been a recurring theme as the foundation layers jobs, education and community services around the venue.
Buckets' debut marks the latest step in the foundation’s neighborhood build-out, blending fan-friendly dining with workforce development. For Akron residents, the opening, and the jobs and programming that come with it, may be the most tangible piece yet of the foundation's promise to the city.
