Florence Jones Kemp

Florence Jones Kemp

Owner, Florence’s Restaurant in OKC

Florence Jones Kemp owner of the legendary Florence’s Restaurant on 23rd Street, turned 92 years young in 2023 reaching the milestone of 72 years in business. From the daughter of a sharecropper in Boley, Oklahoma to winning the Nobel Prize of the culinary world, Kemp is still running her kitchen with the same fire. 

Kemp was part of the graduating class of 1950 at Frederick A. Douglass. She opened her business just two years later in 1952.

Florence’s Restaurant has won numerous awards and garnered national attention. Musicians Kanye West and Toby Keith as well as actor Danny Glover have all visited.

Kemp and her restaurant were featured on Guy Fieri‘s show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”

Kemp is the first Oklahoman to receive the James Beard America’s Classics award.