Kody and Deah Weller moved from Pampa three years ago to Colorado. Kody, who’d grown up here his whole life, and Deah who’d been here for 10 years were excited about the possibility to move back. The couple moved to Colorado and an opportunity to open a restaurant fell into their laps.
“We lived in a very small town, maybe 800 people,” Deah said. “We knew a lady that had a vacant space and wanted us to do something with it, so we started Fatt Weller’s there and it did well.”
After running their restaurant for around a year in Colorado, going through the learning curves it takes to own and operate a restaurant. The small town didn’t provide the financial stability the family needed. After visiting Pampa for Christmas break, the plan to move it back to Pampa came about.
“When we came back, we realized we missed our Texas people,” Weller said. “In January we decided to close our location in Colorado and go full steam ahead with opening a spot here.”
The projection to open is aimed for three to four weeks from now, hoping that all necessary equipment gets in on the time frame they’ve been given. The family waited to officially open or get started on a place here due to their sons’ advancements with his school in Colorado.
“He was really good at wrestling and made it to regionals, so we didn’t want to pull him from that,” Kody Weller said. “So we said okay, we’ll wait till that’s over. Then he made it to state so of course, we aren’t going to pull him from the state competition. But once was all said and done, we were ready to get started here in Pampa.”
The location for ‘Fatt Weller’s’ is at 2420 Alcock, the old Victory Motors. Deah ran Victory in 2014 until moving away. When they moved back, the building was now open and available for a new space.
“I visited with the owner when I got back,” Deah said. “He said he was looking for something to move into the building and I told him, let me do it. I have an idea.”
The first plan was to utilize the building as seating, with a food truck in the lot making and serving the food.
“We couldn’t find a food truck suitable for what we need,” Deah said. “So we scrapped that plan and then just said ‘let’s make the whole thing a really unique restaurant.”
The couple has been converting the building into a restaurant. Starting with painting and some slight remodeling. Clearing out the garage side of the building to be a seating area. The kitchen was going to be openly designed for customers to get a look into the kitchen.
“We wanted the open kitchen, but it just didn’t work,” Deah said. “We’d try to set it up and then there wouldn’t be enough room, so we scrapped that idea. Now we plan to have the kitchen enclosed, painted, and designed to look like a barn.”
The garage doors will stay, with windows to show the outside and give natural light to the building. In the summer months, the restaurant plans to open its doors up through working hours.
“We want it to be a very unique restaurant,” Deah said. “Once we get up and running, we plan to have those doors open and live bands playing on some nights. The atmosphere is going to be a backyard barbecue like you’re coming into our house and attending a backyard barbecue.”
The restaurant is a family affair, most employees will be family members with a few additional staff. The motto for the restaurant comes from the main goal of the team, getting a meal that keeps you full.
“When we designed our plates, we wanted to make them enough that you leave feeling full,” Kody said. “There’s nothing worse than paying an arm and leg for a meal and you leave not feeling full. So our motto is to make sure you leave overserved. We can’t be called Fatt Wellers and people not get full.”
Now, the name, Fatt Wellers, came from a friend of Kody’s many years ago. The friend, they’ve since lost, but now continue on with the name in homage to him.
“In my friend group, there was more than one person with my name,” Kody said. “So they’d call me Weller to keep it separate. After some time of not seeing him, I’d lost a bunch of weight and when I finally came back around he said ‘Where’s Fat Weller’ and so the name just stuck. Spelled with two T’s, there’s a meaning for that.”
Kody is the main cook for the restaurant, with Deah running the operations and making desserts. The menus are set, and the ideas are in motion so now only a matter of time until the doors are officially opened. Even during their time of getting set up, the hype for them has already been building.
“The day we got here, I just posted a picture on our Facebook saying ‘We’re glad to be home’ and it went crazy,” Deah said. “We had so many people asking when we were opening, and then people driving by shouting at the light when we’d be opening. So it’s a good feeling to already be receiving some excitement.”
With the location having so much space to be used, the business plans are to use as much of the space as they can, with outdoor seating during the summer months and corn hole and horseshoe setups for patrons to play with while attending the restaurant. Their son will be playing football and the family is already supporting Harvester sports, so the love of the Harvesters will be in the restaurant.
“When there are those out-of-town games that people can’t make it to, we’ll have them streaming here,” Kody said. “Whatever we have to do to get that figured out, we’ll do.”
Kody and Deah have invited anyone that sees them working, to stop by and say hello and get to know them.
“We want to meet people,” Deah said. “So, we invite them, if you see our truck here and we’re working, come in and say hello. We’re excited to get opened and see how we do here.”
The plans to officially open are still to be determined, but it’s not far away. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for all updates about the opening.
