Claiborne Tapp III, nicknamed "Tre," not only inherited a restaurant from his parents but also a legacy dating back to 1957, when his father opened the original Chicken Box in the heart of Black Wall Street, Durham's vibrant African American business district.
"My father just developed a recipe and started roasting fried chicken, and it just took off from there," Tre said. "People loved it!"
That area was once bustled with Black-owned restaurants, hotels, dry cleaners, and other businesses -- a community where people came together. However, the construction of the Durham Freeway destroyed much of that commercial hub, scattering businesses and reshaping the landscape of Black entrepreneurship in Durham.
Through it all, the Chicken Hut endured.
Pillar in the community
Lifelong Durham resident Minnie Forte has been eating at the restaurant since she was little, back when it was called the Chicken Box.
"That was a time when you rallied behind anything that was Black and positive," Forte recalled. "The Chicken Hut was Black and positive. You made sure to buy your gas from Mr. Bates, go to Smith and Son, and I'm going to eat at the Chicken Hut!"
For Forte and many others, the restaurant is more than just a place to eat. It is a link to community, history, and soul.
"When we say soul food, soul, heart and soul, that's what that is," she said.
When asked what soul food means, Tre's answer is immediate: "Strength. Soul food means cooking from your heart. It means appreciating the customers."
Every morning, his staff gives 100 percent, putting everything into the cooking. "We cook with love," he said simply.
The menu includes made-to-order fried chicken, fall-off-the-bone ribs, and a rotating selection of sides -- all served piping hot in Styrofoam containers.
It is food rooted in necessity and ingenuity, created by enslaved people who transformed limited ingredients into something delicious and flavorful.
"People never used to eat chicken wings. Black people ate chicken," Forte noted. "But now you can hardly find chicken wings in the store because they've become so popular and expensive. We've made it a delicacy."
Feeding the Movement
The history of The Chicken Hut is linked to Durham's Civil Rights movement. During the 1960s, as sit-ins and peaceful protests unfolded in the city, Tre's parents were in the kitchen, cooking meals for those on the front lines.
After Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and protests broke out, Tre's father cooked and delivered over a thousand meals to those being arrested.
"That is ingrained in so many people's hearts," Tre said. "My parents prided themselves in giving back."
Carrying on such a significant legacy might feel like pressure, but Tre has carved out his own path.
"I tell everyone, I can never fill my mom's shoes or my dad's shoes," he said. "I have to walk in my own shoes."
Growing up in the restaurant, Tre was raised on soul food, and he shows no signs of tiring of it.
"I love it. I was raised on it all my life," he said. "So, this is all I know."
The Chicken Hut is a gathering place where food is shared with loved ones, a piece of Black history served hot and fresh, and a symbol of Durham's resilient African American community.
As Tre put it, that's not changing anytime soon.
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