LAWTON – Red Dirt Reloaded Bar & Grill owner Fabian Turner is a hard worker with the Midas touch.
He bought his first rental home at age 18, purchased two convenience stores at 30, currently owns Honey Do Construction and at one time owned 60 rental homes in the Lawton area. Yet, he spends most of his waking hours at Red Dirt Reloaded where he’s needed the most. Regardless of the type of business, it seems Turner has the golden touch.
Turner purchased the Lawton bar and grill in 2016 and continues to make significant improvements. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the bar and grill made more money than Turner expected.
“We’re always expanding with new tables and chairs, new kitchen equipment and updating our various entertainment centers,” he said. “If something isn’t drawing people into the restaurant, we replace it. We replaced a golf machine with a basketball toss because people weren’t using the golf machine. We’re always looking to do things that keep your customers interested.”
Red Dirt Reloaded Bar & Grill, 6425 NW Cache Road, is an 8,000 square-foot building that can hold 500 customers. The business is one of Lawton’s top hot spots with an expanded menu, 60 beers on tap, bands, karaoke, shuffleboard, air hockey, darts, pool tables, cornhole competition, two outside patio areas and 35 flat-screen televisions. There’s something for everyone, Turner said.
“This place is for the working-class people, it’s for the professional types and it’s for the younger crowd,” he said. “This is probably one of the best places for people to come to when they visit Lawton. It’s a cool place.”
Turner also gives back to the community by hosting youth league pool tournaments, chamber of commerce events and feeding military personnel during Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
“I was born in Lawton and the community has been good to me since I bought the place,” he said. “I’m proud of this place and we’re changing things up to make customers happy.”
However, operating the business can be frustrating for the 53-year-old entrepreneur.
“It’s something every day. You never know what’s waiting for you when you walk in,” he said. “During COVID we got shut down, but it’s starting to loosen up.”
However, the long-term effects of COVID haven’t gone away. Food costs have skyrocketed, which Turner said hurts profitability, and employee issues are always a problem. Turner said it’s also difficult to retain employees who don’t take ownership of their jobs.
“There’s no way to dictate how business is going to turn out,” he said. “I spend a lot of hours here but it’s
been good to me. I think I’ve got some more good years left in me. I’ll just go with the flow.”
The grill’s menu is all-encompassing with burgers, sandwiches, appetizers or munchies, sliders, kids’ items and full-blown dinners with side items.
On the entertainment side, dart and pool tournaments are held every week, karaoke is performed each Thursday and cornhole competitions are held each Sunday.
Hours are 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Friday and 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. on weekends. For more information about the grill and bar, visit www.reddirtreloaded.com.