w cafeteria industry casual dining restaurant founded 1937 headquarters winston salem north carolina usa key people grady t. allred sr. products homestyle food website k & w cafeteria not to be confused with the former s & w cafeteria chain headquartered in charlotte north carolina . k & w cafeterias inc. is a southern usa chain of cafeteria style restaurants . its headquarters are in the k & w corporate office in winston salem north carolina . 1 2 k & w serves traditional southern favorites including fried chicken turnip greens fried okra and homemade desserts . grady t. allred sr. a founder of k & w cafeterias entered the restaurant business on thanksgiving day 1935 as an employee of a small restaurant on cherry street in winston salem north carolina . the carolinian coffee shop was owned by brothers thomas kenneth and william wilson and their brother in law t.k. knight . in 1937 the initials k & w for knight and wilson were adopted and k & w restaurant was established . allred later acquired a one third interest in the k & w restaurant . after operating the restaurant with his partners for a few years allred purchased their interests and became the sole owner of k & w restaurant around the year 1941 . 2 the k & w restaurant continued to flourish at the winston salem cherry street location until fire damage forced it to close for several months . after repairs and restoration were completed it reopened as a restaurant cafeteria combination . the cafeteria concept of the operation became so popular and successful that allred decided to convert the unit entirely to cafeteria style food service . k & w occupied its original location in winston salem until an urban renewal project forced a move to 720 coliseum drive in winston salem . on january 18 1988 the k & w located at 380 knollwood street in winston salem exploded due to a natural gas leak . the restaurant was destroyed and the attached sheraton hotel was severely damaged . the blast occurred while the restaurant was closed . of the four persons in the lobby cafeteria building at the time of the explosion three sustained minor injuries . a fourth person sustained a fractured ankle . 3 both the restaurant and the hotel were damaged beyond repair and were subsequently demolished . in 1991 k & w began offering takeout service through the to go shop . in 2009 k & w catering began for events such as weddings and corporate meetings . 2 while other cafeteria chains went bankrupt during the 1980s and 1990s k & w continued to prosper . from the original restaurant establishment which seated 110 people k & w has expanded to 35 cafeterias and over 2500 employees throughout north carolina south carolina virginia west virginia and formerly maryland . grady allred sr. died in 1983 . the chain continues to be operated by his family . references edit group sales . k & w cafeterias . retrieved on january 31 2012 . k & w corporate office p.o. box 25048 winston salem nc 27114 5048 a b c daniel fran 2012 01 15 . k & w turns 75 . winston salem journal . retrieved 2012 01 15 . headquarters 1391 plaza west road off healy drive in winston salem report on 1988 knollwood location explosion external links edit north carolina portal food portal companies portal k & w cafeteria kinsman kat . mehepyewpleez a love letter to k & w cafeteria . cnn . january 31 2012 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title k % 26w cafeterias & oldid 647212925 categories companies based in winston salem north carolinaeconomy of the southeastern united statesregional restaurant chains in the united statescafeteria style restaurants navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 15 february 2015 at 07 36 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view