Everyone thinks this duo already is in the food business, but now they actually are

Everybody already thinks Kristy and Kip Hawkins are in the food business, but now they’re actually going to be.

The two say they come from entrepreneurial families and have always wanted to own their own business.

As they began to contemplate possible franchises, Kristy Hawkins was especially interested in one related to food.

“I’ve always had a love of cooking,” she said.

Instead, first they got into recyclable asphalt repair with a distributorship called Road Soup of Kansas.

“Everybody thinks it’s a food truck,” Kip Hawkins said.

Now, they’ve also become franchisees of Graze Craze, a fast-growing Oklahoma City-based franchise with more than 30 sites either open or in the process of opening to sell charcuterie boards.

There will be at least two in Wichita. The first will be near 21st and Ridge Road in the same center as Dandurand and Pho Chopstix. The second will be in Cambridge Market at 21st and Webb Road.

Graze Craze will offer options as small as a single cup for a grab-and-go lunch up to large boards for catering and events.

Kristy Hawkins said they want the businesses to offer “a little bit of everything for all kinds of tastes.”

There will be boards friendly to keto, vegetarian and gluten-free diets.

There will be sweet boards with fruit and chocolate and a picnic platter for two to four people. The largest board will serve about a dozen people.

Each store will make dips and fresh bread in house.

A signature chocolate bark with almonds will be made in Oklahoma.

There also will be house-made pickles and add-on boxes.

“There are different things they can add on to it if they choose,” Kip Hawkins said.

They’ll also make their own honeys and jam.

“The products are very fresh,” Kristy Hawkins said.

There also will be holiday boards in season.

Hawkins said she’s created boards for family and friends in the past and then had people start to ask her to make them.

A franchise for the business made sense, she said.

“They have a very streamlined process, and the food is fantastic,” she said.

Kip Hawkins said both the quality and quantities are nice.

Also, he said, the charcuterie meats are cured, so customers can buy boards and leave them out for hours.

The boards are made out of recycled material, so customers don’t need to return them.

“And it still looks really really nice,” Kristy Hawkins said.

The boards can be dressed up with flowers and other items.

The west store likely will open in August. The east store should follow in September.

Kip Hawkins had been in marketing but now will focus on the franchises full time.

Kristy Hawkins is vice president of business development and executive search with the Arnold Group, a staffing and recruiting firm, and she will keep her job while also having the franchises.

Kip Hawkins said his parents had been franchisees in the staffing and recruiting industry.

“We both come from entrepreneurial lineage,” he said.

It’s not a surprise that the two now have three franchises, Kristy Hawkins said.

“We always knew we wanted to do something.”