Home of Chicken and Waffles, the Oakland soul food institution known for its fried chicken, golden waffles and Southern comfort cooking, is shutting down for good after more than two decades in business. The restaurant near Jack London Square will serve its final meals later this month, according to owner Derreck Johnson.
Johnson framed the closure around the restaurant's legacy rather than any single cause, telling NBC Bay Area that the business was about bringing people together and giving back to the community. No specific reason for the shutdown was given, and Johnson said he plans to share more details in the coming months. The restaurant first opened in 2004.
Home of Chicken and Waffles began as a Northern California franchise of Los Angeles's famous Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles before becoming an independent, family-owned business, according to The Oaklandside. Johnson's father had ties to the original Roscoe's founders in Southern California, and the Oakland spot eventually grew into a small regional chain with locations in Daly City and Walnut Creek, though the Walnut Creek branch closed in 2017 after six years amid visibility and foot-traffic problems, per Beyond the Creek.
A Relocation and a Complicated Ownership History
In February 2024, the restaurant moved from its longtime waterfront home at 444 Embarcadero West to a new storefront at 247 4th Street, the former Chop Bar location, after operating on the Embarcadero for nearly two decades, according to reporting cited by Berkeleyside. The move came amid the broader economic pressures that would eventually squeeze the business out entirely.
Behind the public-facing story of a beloved neighborhood restaurant sits a more complicated corporate history. The restaurant's parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2014, which led to a court-appointed trustee in 2015 and, by 2017, the legal loss of restaurant ownership by Johnson following mismanagement claims, according to records reported by The Oaklandside. Those details became public in 2020, when Johnson ran for Oakland's At-Large City Council seat with an endorsement from then-Mayor Libby Schaaf, campaigning in part on his experience as a local business owner before losing to incumbent Rebecca Kaplan.
A Second-Chance Employer With Deep Community Roots
Beyond the food, Home of Chicken and Waffles built a reputation as a second-chance employer. The restaurant partnered with Oakland reentry programs like Measure Y to hire formerly incarcerated residents, who at times made up as much as 70 percent of its workforce, according to Hoodline's 2017 profile of the business. Johnson had first experimented with hiring halfway-house residents while running a car-detailing business before bringing the model to his restaurants.
That community focus extended to regular philanthropy. In December 2024, the restaurant hosted its annual Christmas Day brunch, offering free soul food meals and donated clothing to low-income and unhoused Oakland residents, including people living in local tiny-home shelters, as reported by Patch.
Waterfront District Losing Its Anchors
The neighborhood around the restaurant's original home has been losing foot traffic for years. In January 2025, the 35-year-old Waterfront Hotel in Jack London Square permanently closed, removing a key hospitality anchor from the area, according to SFGATE, which noted Johnson had already commented publicly that foot traffic in the district had declined compared to earlier decades.
Johnson had voiced frustration over the neighborhood's struggles even earlier. In December 2023, he told CBS San Francisco that 2023 had been one of the slowest years in the restaurant's 20-year history, as customer fears about crime kept people away during a stretch when Oakland lacked a permanent police chief.
The closure adds Home of Chicken and Waffles to a growing list of shuttered Jack London Square eateries. Ben's Chinese Restaurant quietly closed this month after 40 years, following Hoodline's earlier coverage of the wave of shutdowns, while Forge Pizza closed in December 2024 and Tiger's Taproom shut down in February 2024. Waterfront operators have pointed to inflation, rising rents and shifting post-pandemic dining habits as driving forces behind the broader contraction.
For now, Johnson has not detailed what comes next beyond confirming the restaurant will serve its final meals later this month. Longtime customers who came for the fried chicken and golden waffles will have only a few more weeks to get one last plate before the two-decade run comes to a close.
