Pesky rules didn’t stop a local restaurant owner from starting her business and becoming an important part of the community.
Cooking the perfect mix of Southern-style comfort food can be a big challenge for many restaurants. However, Mama Gina’s in Fort Worth succeeds with a high-quality menu, a friendly atmosphere, and the best blackened catfish, dirty rice, and sweet potato pound cake in town.
Mama Gina’s was founded by Arlington resident Regina Smith in 2021 during the peak of the COVID-19 lockdowns. After leaving her job in corporate America to care for her husband, Smith's passion for healthy Southern cooking reignited.
According to Smith, the “Mama Gina’s” brand was inspired by her daughter’s friend. The friend requested six sweet potato pies as a thank-you for former clients, which led to catering a birthday party and sparked Smith's new calling.
“I decided at that time that God was telling me something,” Smith told The Dallas Express.
Smith decided to use a commercial kitchen to ensure she followed all the rules. After a year in the catering business, an opportunity to open a restaurant arose.
“It just kind of fell into my lap,” she said.
Although Smith was eager to expand her business, opening the restaurant was more complicated than she expected. With no previous restaurant experience, she faced unforeseen challenges and regulations to adhere to.
“I had never run a restaurant before. So, when I tried to call the city on a couple of occasions to get information about what I needed, I got the runaround,” Smith said, describing the experience as being told that figuring everything out was her “homework.”
Smith realized that determination alone was not enough. Navigating the regulations was challenging, especially in Texas’ business-friendly climate. As previously reported by The Dallas Express, despite the Lone Star State’s pro-business reputation, lawmakers have had to pass laws to limit some city regulations that make it difficult to start or maintain a business.
“I thought that because the restaurant already had all of its own commercial kitchen equipment, which belonged to the building’s owner, I could just move right in, start a business, and go to work. Well, it didn’t work out like that,” Smith told DX.
The main obstacle for Smith at the time was the city’s 500-gallon grease trap requirement. When Smith moved in, the restaurant space already had a 20-gallon grease trap, which the previous tenant had been allowed to keep.
Ultimately, the city required Smith to install a much larger grease trap despite Mama Gina’s only serving healthy, non-fried foods.
After arguing with the city and receiving conflicting answers, Smith was ready to give up. However, to prevent Mama Gina’s from going out of business before opening, the building owner agreed to pay $30,000 to install the required grease trap.
According to Smith, the owner agreed to pay for the new grease trap because of her love for cooking and the area’s lack of authentic home-cooked food.
In the end, Smith said the restaurant was closed for about three weeks while the replacement grease trap was installed.
“They had to excavate the back, break the concrete, install the grease trap, and all this other stuff. It just turned out it was so much of a hassle,” she said.
Although Smith admits it would have been easier and more cost-effective to stay in the catering business, she told DX that providing for the community and her employees brings a special joy to her heart, making it all worthwhile.
Mama Gina’s, located at 8651 John T. White Rd., is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
