(The Dallas Examiner) – Ruthie’s Café serves quality, healthy comfort food in South Dallas. Now in a brick-and-mortar building, which opened in February by Lamar Hunt’s niece, Ashlee Kleinert and the Hunt family, it began as a food truck business in 2011. The café was named after Kleinert’s grandmother.

Dr. Terry Flowers, headmaster of St. Philip’s School and Community Center, has been pursuing creative ways to resurrect the South Dallas area. He convinced Kleinert to open a restaurant that served a nutritious breakfast and lunch.

“Knowing Dr. Flowers, he asked me if I would consider taking the food truck concept and turning it into a restaurant here on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the property that they own. So they are our landlord. We are their tenants,” Kleinert recalled. “And he said, ‘We need some additional food sources here. And there’s not a place for the teachers or community members to go sit and grab a cup of coffee, or you know, there’s not a Starbucks nearby where they can sit and do work or grab a healthy meal. There aren’t many options.’ And he asked if we would consider doing this. I did not ever set out to have a restaurant. It was never on my bingo card. But it’s hard to say no to him. And then once I learned more about what they’re trying to do in the community, it was a no-brainer. It’s like, let’s try. We’ve got the right people. We’ve got the right team. If they want it, let’s try to help and bring it.

“We were able to acquire real estate on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and we had participated in an equitable development community study.”

Flowers said that gaining control of the real estate, putting together the capital stack to do the renovations and the overall spaces that had to be transformed from what they were in the past took a while.

“One of the things that articulated that they desperately wanted to be happening in the community is a decent place to go and have a meal. And so we began cultivating a relationship with Ruthie’s food truck system and a couple of other food truck and catering businesses to try to garner up interest for establishing businesses in this neighborhood on the MLK corridor. So there’ll be a dessert shop coming next month and another restaurant sometime in 2022,” Flowers said.

Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Dak Prescott donated the furnishings for the outdoor patio, which faces St. Philip’s and is called Dak’s Patio.

“We were always intended to be a “community truck” and would serve nonprofits and first responders free of charge. I have an entrepreneurial spirit and kept the business evolving to the point we are now, and I believe we have found our purpose,” Kleinert said. “The strongest suit is being flexible and nimble, and open to change.”

Kleinert has been involved with St. Philips for 15 years as a board director and a member, and she offers a portion of the sales benefits the school.

“All our proceeds go to them. So my husband and I created the Good Foundation to work in our community, find areas where there are gaps in services, and to convene people, bring people together to help solve problems and issues that affect our community,” she said.

The café serves the most delicious, creative grilled cheese sandwiches in Texas along with tomato soup, salads and fries, according to Kleinert. It specializes in sandwiches and wraps, and its menu recently added gourmet coffee drinks.

The eatery is considered a fresh start employer. Kleinert noted that the team at Ruthie’s Café teams up with an organization called Unlocking Doors to hire its staff.

“They’re our employment partner and we work with individuals that have been involved in the justice system, whether it’s juvenile or adult,” Kleinert said. “They’ve served their time. If you serve your time, you should be able to go back out into the workforce or the community and start fresh again. But that’s not the case, sadly, as we know. And so without having an opportunity to have gainful employment, oftentimes it’s, you know, they’re right back committing crimes again. We focus on those that have served their time and have learned from whatever happened, the circumstances they were in, have removed themselves from those circumstances and say ‘I want to be part of the community. I want to be part of giving back and being a viable citizen. And we feel that that’s really important. Everyone here believes that. And so we have the most incredible workforce because of that.”

The philosophy of the company is to serve others with dignity and kindness.

“Our café and food truck team is made up of the most incredible human beings that have served their time and are ready to get back into being a contributing member of society.  They just need a second chance, sometimes it’s really their first chance given life circumstances beyond their control. We have two food trucks and the café that opened in February 2025.” she said.

Taylor Williams, director of operations for the Good Foundation, runs the café and food truck company. She said she grew up in Oak Cliff.

“I started working for the Good Foundation about four years ago. Four years up to this date, I started with running the food trucks. I appreciate the mission. I actually went and opened another project within the family and then came back to help open this café. I left there because I wanted to come back here to be a part of a bigger purpose. They opened just the café and the mission,” she said.

“While in college, I worked in hospitality, hostess, waitress, cocktail waitress, small bartending. So hospitality has always been my thing. And that’s how I very much met Ashley as well. I actually met Ashley through hospitality and also the Good Foundation. I was in operations of the food truck that’s been around for 14 years with our social mission. It’s a social enterprise. Mostly, we started with helping out juveniles and we had a partnership. And that’s where I came in.

Kaileigh Johnson, executive director of the Good Foundation, explained the mission of the nonprofit.

“The Good Foundation is like the umbrella over Ruthie’s Café in Dallas Doing Good. So those are our two nonprofit entities under the foundation,” Johnson said. “Dallas Doing Good is our other nonprofit. It’s like community journalism. So good stories and make cute reels and just happy stories. We just kind of find space and pay and advertise the good that’s going around Dallas.”

Kleinert expressed that while the eatery serves the community while providing an opportunity for patrons to give back to those in need.

“There is power in your purchase,” Kleinert concluded. “I hope people will consider Ruthie’s for their next casual coffee date, lunch meeting or philanthropic gift. I also hope people will consider hiring individuals who have served their time in prison and need a fresh start. I have the most loyal and hard-working team because of this, and I can’t speak about it enough.”