Twenty Oklahoma City chefs and twenty local designers are teaming up this month to turn the Oklahoma City Convention Center into a maze of immersive dining pop-ups, each one built around its own theme, its own menu and its own story. The event, called Design Appétit, marks its 10th year running as the signature fall fundraiser for Focus on Home, a nonprofit that furnishes apartments for people moving out of homelessness, domestic violence, incarceration and other crises.
According to the Kansas City Star, this year's theme is “In Full Spectrum – The Color of Home,” and each design-and-chef pairing gets roughly 20 hours to build out a 20-by-20-foot space before gala night. Every chef or chef team is required to create at least four courses inspired by their design partner's concept, and the finished spaces seat tables of 10 for the gala crowd. Concepts on this year's lineup range from “Yellow” and “Tropical Luxury” to “Oklahoma Landscape” and “Alice in Wonderland,” per the same report.
This year's event unfolds across three tiers: the Preview, the Stroll and the Gala, each with its own ticket price and format, running Wednesday, Oct. 21 through Thursday, Oct. 22.
From Preview Cocktails to a Midday Stroll
The Preview kicks off Wednesday night with a $75 ticket that includes DJ Litebrite and a cocktail contest pitting bartenders from across Oklahoma City against each other, according to the Kansas City Star's reporting. Last year's Preview featured a cocktail party, continuing a format organizers have refined over the years.
The Stroll follows at midday on Oct. 22 with a $25 ticket covering design-space viewing, chef bites, live music from Brennin Hunt and a live recording of This Is Oklahoma with Mike Hearne. Ten chefs are participating in the Stroll specifically, drawing from kitchens including Citizen House, The Crown, Francis Tuttle, The Jones Assembly, Tiny Bubbles Wine Bar, Milo and Vast, the Star reports.
The Gala itself runs $250 per individual ticket, with five private dining-space sponsorships available starting at $5,000. Each sponsorship includes 10 gala tickets for a private dining space and, depending on donation level, may also include Preview and Stroll tickets. A community-table ticket option adds five additional meals supplied by participating chefs, and all tickets are sold through Focus on Home's website, per the same account.
Pairings Behind This Year's Vignettes
Among this year's paired teams: designer Travis Neely of Neely + Queen working alongside Vast chefs Jonas Favela, Kari Garrett and Jessie Gomez; Lilies & Lux paired with Hamilton chefs Stephanie Morrical and J. Mays; Studio A teaming with Zack Walters of Sedalia's; Cooper House working with Gabriel Lewis of Taco Luv; and The Jones Assembly pairing its own space with chefs Patrick Hart and Quinn Carroll, according to the Star.
Focus on Home's Kelly Hunt described the event to the Star as functioning like an art installation, with each pop-up becoming its own story and dining experience. Hunt also said the organization furnishes homes with everything from rugs and curtains to large furniture pieces, and noted that Design Appétit has added multiple event options over the years specifically to bring more people into the room.
A Warehouse Built From One Pickup Truck
Focus on Home's reach extends well beyond gala night. The nonprofit was founded by CEO Joli Sanders, who started out of her garage with a single pickup truck before the organization grew into a 24,000-square-foot warehouse facility in Oklahoma City, according to John A. Marshall Co. The warehouse receives donated furniture. Proceeds from events like Design Appétit help purchase twin beds; the organization also provides bedding and nightstands, the same report notes.
Focus on Home provides furniture and home goods for people transitioning into housing after homelessness, domestic violence, incarceration and other situations, and the organization receives client referrals from Palomar, ReMerge and the YWCA. Palomar, Oklahoma City's Family Justice Center, is currently building a new 72,000-square-foot, $38 million facility funded through the voter-approved MAPS 4 program, bringing multi-agency crisis, legal and trauma-informed services under one roof for survivors of abuse, according to OKC VeloCity. The outlet also cited a 2023 state study finding that 49.1% of Oklahoma women and 40.7% of Oklahoma men experience domestic abuse in their lifetimes, placing Oklahoma among the highest-ranked states nationally for domestic violence rates.
ReMerge, another referral partner, functions as a court diversion program in Oklahoma County designed specifically for pregnant women and mothers facing nonviolent felony charges, offering drug treatment, sober housing and family reunification as an alternative to prison time, according to Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma.
Tied to the City's Homelessness Push
Focus on Home also serves as a key operational partner in Oklahoma City's Key to Home Partnership, a public-private coalition of nearly 50 organizations launched in April 2023 to combat unsheltered homelessness, per the City of Oklahoma City. The partnership coordinates outreach, shelter placement, rental assistance and home furnishings across multiple local agencies, and it exceeded its goal of housing 500 unsheltered individuals ahead of its late 2025 deadline — a milestone that included rehousing 75 residents from a Virginia Avenue encampment this past August, the city reported.
The nonprofit's work has also drawn institutional philanthropic support. Impact Oklahoma awarded Focus on Home a $100,000 grant in 2023 for its project aimed at ending homelessness in local residences, part of the organization's annual transformative grants to central Oklahoma nonprofits.
This year's Design Appétit unfolds inside the Oklahoma City Convention Center.
