Detroit’s new Whatcha Wanna Eat Food Hall is packed on a Thursday afternoon. Lines of people crowd the walkways and indecisive diners inch their way through, squinting at menus on the wall, spoiled with, perhaps, too much choice. Rows of people stand against mural-covered walls and get cake slices from the sweets shop while they wait for their hibachi plates and tacos to be ready elsewhere.
This is Detroit’s first inner-city food hall, and all nine businesses inside are minority-owned. It’s located at 10625 West McNichols Rd., just had a grand opening on Sept. 8, and has already proved to be extremely popular.
It took Bobby and Gena Bailey two years to bring the food hall to life, but they’ve been in the food business for over 30 years, including owning Detroit’s tricked-out potato place Spud Headz. All of the businesses inside Whatcha Wanna Eat Food Hall are either first-time ventures for budding entrepreneurs, or food trucks that finally have a physical space.
They are Heavenly Chicken and Waffles, Delectabowl, Your Perfect Blend, Wing Fellas, Crazy Burgers, Poon’s Hibachi Grill, Borderline Tacos, Detroit Wild Pit, and Life is Sweetz.
Crazy Burgers serves up thick burgers with toppings like mozzarella sticks and Detroit Wild Pit brings the BBQ. Your Perfect Blend balances it out with smoothies, raw juices, and acai bowls.
“Getting businesses that are already established would have been kinda boring,” Bobby tells Metro Times. “We wanted to give the city something new. A lot of these cooks, I call them ‘social media cooks.’ I see them post all the time, they’re cooking at their home. They’ve got great ideas, they just didn’t have a platform to show it. I wanted to put them in a licensed kitchen so they can get big catering contracts and grow their business.”
Gena adds, “To open a restaurant would be over $140,000. Some people don’t have that. So my husband built this out and gave them the opportunity to have their own restaurant without a brick and mortar.”
“I look at them and I see myself,” Bobby says about the restaurants. “I’ve been cooking in the food industry now for 30 years so I just wanted to give back.”
Spud Headz, is down McNichols (or Six Mile as real Detroiters call it) about five minutes away. Bobby grew up in this neighborhood and wanted to bring something nice to the area instead of opening downtown.
“This community has always showed me love for 20 years, so I said I’m gonna do it right here where I know people will appreciate it,” he says. “When you think of Six Mile, I want you to think of food. There are a lot of good restaurants over here.”
Before turning the space into a food hall, Bobby operated it as an event venue for over 20 years. When the hair salon next door closed, he bought that building, tore down the wall, and went to work on Whatcha Wanna Eat.
TikTok food reviewer Keith Lee (who’s from Detroit) tried the most popular items from each of the restaurants in Whatcha Wanna Eat on a recent visit. He rated the waffle bite bowl — pieces of a fluffy Belgian waffle topped with ice cream, whipped cream, and caramel drizzle — an 8.5 out of 10.
Alexis Bailey, the owners’ daughter who runs the sweets shop, wasn’t there during Lee’s visit, but Gena was. She didn’t know who the TikToker was but was shook when he left a $200 tip and an additional $200 to pay for the people in line at each restaurant.
Gena was the one who recommended the waffle bites to Lee’s sister, who ordered the food so he could remain anonymous.
“When she came back, I’m like ‘Hey girl, you’re back for more!’ and she’s like ‘I’m here to bring you Keith,’” Gena says. “That was a blessing. He did not have to do that. We are very, very, very grateful. He put it on Instagram and it blew up.”
Alexis, a culinary school graduate who makes most of the sweets herself, has been working at Spud Headz with her dad since she was 13, but this is her first time running her own business.
Menu items at Life is Sweetz have kitschy names like “Shake What Ya Mamma Gave Ya” for milkshakes, “You Got Served” for soft serve ice cream, and “Brown Knee” instead of brownies.
“I didn’t even realize the impact of it until we opened and someone told us, we’re really the first inner-city food hall, especially one that’s all minority-owned. It’s really dope,” she says. “My dad’s always been an innovator… I think this is what he’s really been going for the whole time. I’m so proud of my dad.”
She adds, “I’m the only one with something sweet in this place, so you’ve gotta come to me when you come here.”
In his TikTok, Lee blasted local media saying “there were no news or media outlets” at Whatcha Wanna Eat’s grand opening. Gena says, however, that the couple chose not to contact the media because they wanted to focus on finally opening the doors and getting the businesses settled after waiting two years.
“We were supposed to open up before but it took us so long to get our paperwork, to get so many inspections done, to deal with DTE. [Bobby] was just so stressed out, he didn’t have time to go to the media,” she says. “And that wasn’t his biggest thing, anyway. He literally just wanted to open the doors.”
It’s been a long road for the Baileys who funded the place entirely by themselves. Gena says they only asked for help from the City of Detroit in fixing the busted sidewalk in front of the building. They were told there was a five-year wait, so Bobby hired someone to lay the concrete so they didn’t have to keep waiting.
“But we are finally here and since September 8, we have not had a slow-down day,” she says. “We’re there every day. I help my step daughter with Life is Sweetz and my husband is in the kitchen with Detroit Wild Pit."
The businesses all have one-year leases with Whatcha Wanna Eat, and Gena hopes they will continue to thrive long past that.
There are a few counters and chairs inside the food hall, but it's most suited for takeout.
“My wife and I are always asking each other what you wanna eat, so here we can just come and go in opposite directions and find something good,” he says.
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