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CHARLOTTE – There’s a new restaurant in uptown Charlotte whose mission is to not only feed its patrons, but to feed the poor as well.

Chef Jim Noble, owner of Rooster’s in SouthPark, opened King’s Kitchen on the corner of N. Church Street and Trade Street. All the profits from the restaurant are donated to ministries and community outreach organizations to help provide meals to the disenfranchised.

Noble, originally from High Point, N.C., said his mission for his sixth restaurant is twofold. “My goal is to help feed the poor and to make the best pan-fried chicken in the Southeast,” he said.

In addition to raising those funds, King’s Kitchen will employ the homeless through a Christian-based leadership program to help them get back on their feet. It will consist of leadership classes, a daily Bible study, learning social skills and working all different types of jobs at the restaurant. Noble hopes that between 25 and 40 percent of King’s Kitchen employees will be part of the program.

“We’re a ministry first, restaurant second,” he said.

King's Kitchen opened in uptown Charlotte in April on the corner of N. Church Street and Trade Street. All the profits from the restaurant go toward feeding the poor.

Gregory Anthony Walker, a member of the Harvest Center ministry, will be part of the first class for the 40 to 50 week program. Before he entered the ministry, he could not read or write and he didn’t have a home. Walker, 49, now has a roof over his head and a job to go to everyday as a dishwasher at King’s Kitchen. “I love this place,” he said. “I never miss a day. My second home is my job.”

Noble said it is people like Walker that made him want to do more to help. “We did dinners at the coliseum for Katrina victims,” he said. “But we wanted to do more. It still wasn’t quite enough.”

After two and a half years of planning, King’s Kitchen came to fruition. Noble said the restaurant is modeled after Café Reconcile in New Orleans, also a non-profit eatery. The restaurant offers upscale meat and three at reasonable prices, he said. The menu offers southern staples such as their signature skillet fried chicken, pot roast, country style steak, collard greens and black eyed peas. For dessert, their brown sugar pound cake and pecan pie are big favorites. The meats are all natural and the vegetables are organic and locally grown. “It’s good southern food, not hokie southern food,” Noble said. “You can’t get that anywhere else uptown.”

But for Walker it’s not about the food, it’s about getting a second chance at life. “You gotta want it,” he said. “I held the hand of God and it all opened up for me.”

King’s Kitchen is located at 129 W. Trade St.

For more information about King’s Kitchen and Chef Noble’s other ventures visit www.kingskitchen.org and www.chefjimnoble.com.