K. Hall and Sons

K. Hall and Sons is a longstanding Black-owned business on Wright Avenue in the Central High School Neighborhood Historic District of Little Rock (Pulaski County). Originally founded as a produce store, it now also encompasses a restaurant and a wholesale food distribution business. The Hall family was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2016.

K. Hall and Sons was founded by Knoxie Hall Sr. and Estella Marie Crenshaw Hall. Knoxie Hall was born on September 13, 1924, while Estella Hall was born on November 24, 1927. They married on December 16, 1944, and went on to have seven children. Knoxie Hall owned and operated several different businesses, including a carwash and detail business and a farm. His experience operating the carwash convinced him of the need to be independent, for at the peak of his operation’s success, his white landlord canceled their rental agreement, only to open a carwash at the same site himself soon thereafter.

In 1973, Knoxie Hall purchased a former gas station to use as a storefront for selling produce from his Wrightsville (Pulaski County) farm, remodeling the building and naming it Hall’s Produce. Estella Hall managed the store while Knoxie oversaw his other business enterprises. In 1984, sons Curtis Hall and David Hall entered the family business, expanding it to include wholesale food supply; the name was changed to K. Hall and Sons Produce. Ten years later, the family shareholders established a holding company, K. Hall and Sons Enterprises, Inc.

Knoxie Hall died on August 21, 2009; Estella Hall died on November 27, 2013.

In addition to wholesale produce supply and direct sales, K. Hall and Sons also includes a restaurant. As David Hall noted in an interview with the Rock City Eats website, the restaurant came about by accident: “Most of the food that we cook now, we actually started out cooking for ourselves. And people would come in and say, ‘Hey, is that for sale?’” K. Hall and Sons is well known for its hamburgers, as well as for hosting regular seafood boils.

In September 2023, the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce honored K. Hall and Sons with a Minority Enterprise Development Week Legacy Award.

For additional information:
Brinkley, Rhett. “Food with Soul.” Arkansas Times, July 2022, pp. 42–47. Online at https://arktimes.com/eat-arkansas/2022/06/29/food-with-soul-from-a-small-produce-stand-to-the-best-comfort-food-in-little-rock-k-hall-sons-approaches-its-50th-year-on-wright-avenue (accessed June 29, 2022).

Schuler, Steve. “K. Hall and Sons Produce: Black-Owned Businesses.” Rock City Eats, February 6, 2017. http://www.rockcityeats.com/k-hall-and-sons-produce-black-owned-businesses/ (accessed August 26, 2020).

Walker, Daniel. “Comfort’s Cooking at K. Hall and Sons.” Arkansas Times, August 29, 2013. Online at http://www.arktimes.com/EatArkansas/archives/2013/08/29/comforts-cooking-at-k-hall-and-sons (accessed August 26, 2020).

Staff of the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas