Owner Roosevelt Bonds is planning the Grand Opening of Memphis Toast for June 5 at 954 Jackson Ave.
North Memphis native Roosevelt Bonds recognized a need for a breakfast spot in the neighborhood and hopes to fill it, while also offering a gathering place for the community. According to Bonds, a new farmer’s market will be opening up shop just down the street, lending plenty of foot traffic and vibrancy to the area.
Located on Jackson Avenue just off the intersection of Interstate 40 (“Music Highway”) and I-69 in the former Jazzy J’s Sports Bar & Grill, Memphis Toast is undergoing a major renovation. Part of Bonds’ mission to redevelop the community one person and one house at a time, the dilapidated building will feature indoor and outdoor patio seating, as well as a wall mural by local artist Calvin Farrar, known as the Street Van Gogh. Chef Robert Mays will cook up the wholesome breakfast menu, bringing years of experience in the restaurant industry to the table.
First and foremost, Bonds is about helping the community, getting involved in tangible change, and making a difference for the next generation. Opening a restaurant is his most recent endeavor, but by no means the first.
Bonds is the founder of West TN CDC, a regional community development corporation that purchases and rehabilitates local blight properties, and founder of Bonds Kids Inc., an organization dedicated to improving the lives of children, from Christmas gifts and Easter egg hunts, to school supply giveaways and local programs in the park.
“We are dedicated to the North Memphis community,” he tells What Now Memphis.
