From ECU to Dickinson Avenue: How Ford + Shep became a Pirate Nation staple

From ECU to Dickinson Avenue: How Ford + Shep became a Pirate Nation staple

Some of the strongest bonds in Greenville are built around a table.

For Brandon Qualls, owner of Ford + Shep, and Jordan Whitley, one of his student interns, that bond started at East Carolina University and grew into a shared love of food, hospitality and the community that surrounds both.

Qualls' Path Back to Greenville

Qualls didn't grow up in Greenville, but he has called it home for 26 years. Born in North Carolina and raised largely in Massachusetts and Vermont, he came south to visit his father during summers and eventually toured East Carolina while looking at colleges. He fell for the campus, the change in scenery and, in time, for hospitality itself.

That thread ran through the two decades that followed.

Qualls worked his way from a dishwashing job at a local restaurant through an Aramark internship in San Antonio, a sous chef role at a Washington, North Carolina restaurant he helped open in 2006 and a run at the Hilton Greenville that took him from restaurant management to food and beverage director overseeing more than 100 staff members and events serving tens of thousands of guests a week.

Along the way, he leaned on ECU faculty connections, including Dr. Mel Weber, to open doors and offer guidance.

By 2016, Qualls was ready to build something of his own. He started Redbird Restaurant Group and reconnected with Thomas Taft, a fellow Greenville business leader, about a property on Dickinson Avenue. What had been an empty lot between two buildings became a greenhouse style restaurant space, and in May 2018, Ford + Shep opened its doors.

A Menu That Changes as Often as the Conversation

Ford + Shep sits on Dickinson Avenue in the heart of Greenville, where it draws ECU students, longtime locals and visitors passing through alike. The restaurant's menu changes nearly every day, shaped not just by Qualls but by his entire kitchen, front of house staf and servers who pitch their own ideas. The art on the walls comes from the same team.

"It's not just me that designs our menu. It's our kitchen staff, it's our front of house staff. Even our servers will have ideas for menus," Qualls said. "So it's everybody's restaurant. Everybody that works here gets a say in the menu."

That constant reinvention is intentional.

"Changing our menu also keeps our guests engaged," Qualls said. "Every time you come into Ford + Shep, you know there's going to be something different to try. We don't get stale, we don't get stagnant. It allows us to be creative."

That philosophy was built on the same hands on, everyone has a voice approach that shaped his own education at ECU. It has made Ford + Shep a fixture for the Greenville community it serves.

Now, nearly a decade in, Qualls is passing that same hands-on approach to the next generation, mentoring current ECU students and future chefs the way his own professors once mentored him.

Whitley's Turn in the Kitchen

Jordan Whitley grew up in Greenville and started taking classes at ECU at 16 through the Innovation Early College High School. By the time he enrolled as a full time Pirate, he was already a Chancellor's Scholar studying hospitality management with a minor in business administration, and he was looking for a kitchen willing to teach him from scratch.

That search led him to Qualls. With help from Margaret Putney at Innovation Early College, Whitley reached out to several Greenville restaurants and heard no more than once.

"I realized that on paper, I had no experience in an actual kitchen," Whitley said. "It was very much kind of looking at a kid, saying, 'Hey, can I learn in your kitchen? Can I play, essentially, in your kitchen?'" Qualls was the one who took that chance.

Whitley traces his love of cooking back to his grandmother's kitchen in Calico, North Carolina, where summers meant open pastures, no fancy garnishes and food made with love rather than technique.

"There was no fancy equipment, but there was love there," Whitley said. "That's where I fell in love with cooking, was seeing her cook for her family, cook for her husband, the way she does."

At Ford + Shep, he has built on that foundation, learning knife skills like brunoise and julienne cuts under Qualls and his team, and eventually working his way up to crafting his own dishes, including a cinnamon pear cobbler that became one of his proudest moments in the kitchen.

What has stayed with him most is the grace Qualls and his staff extended while he learned.

"No matter how many times I mess up, no matter how many things I don't know, there's always an opportunity to learn and grow," Whitley said. "Even when I was still learning those first skills, those foundational skills, I was still given the grace to learn and to kind of catch up with the rest of the team."

Whitley's ambitions now mirror the path Qualls walked before him.

"I want to be able to stand back and say I've created something that touches someone," Whitley said. "That really made a difference. That made someone feel good. That tasted good."

He dreams of one day owning his own restaurant, blending fine dining with the country cooking he learned from his grandmother.

Still Cooking for Greenville

Nearly eight years after opening, Ford + Shep continues to reflect the same values that brought Qualls back to Greenville in the first place.

"Without ECU, this restaurant probably wouldn't survive," Qualls said.

Whether it is students and families grabbing a bite between classes, families celebrating a milestone or interns like Whitley finding their footing, Ford + Shep remains proof that Greenville's food scene and Pirate Nation are deeply, permanently intertwined.

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