Welcome to This Thing Called Love, where Black Love shines in all its raw, real, and unforgettable glory. Each week, we share deeply personal stories of heartbreak, joy, and the lessons learned from relationships that shape who we are and who we become.
Today: Nakia Holmes opens up about her narcissistic ex and the downfall of Turkey Leg Hut…
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Now, let’s get into it, shall we?
If you’re an avid Black-owned businesses supporter and food enthusiast, you’ve probably heard about Nakia Holmes and the Turkey Leg Hut scandal. If not, here’s the backstory.
Holmes co-founded Turkey Leg Hut, a Houston hotspot famous for its stuffed turkey legs and lively atmosphere, with her ex-husband, Lyndell Price, in 2016.
What started as a humble pop-up stand quickly became a multimillion-dollar restaurant and a cultural staple in Houston’s Third Ward.
Then, in December 2024, Turkey Leg Hut was unceremoniously shuttered, leaving fans wondering—what went wrong? How did a booming business crumble overnight? And most importantly, how is Nakia Holmes holding up after everything played out in the media?
Well, Holmes recently sat down with Essence Magazine to finally tell her side of the story and shed light on how her marriage to Price impacted her business.
Let’s Start From The Beginning
Nakia Holmes first met Lyndell Price at the hair salon when she arrived for her weekly hair appointment. As an introvert, she wasn’t the type to make small talk, so she greeted her stylist and quietly settled into her seat.
A few moments later, she heard raucous laughter coming from the other end of the salon, where a man sat in the styling chair getting his long locs retwisted, cracking jokes like he was headlining a comedy special.
“He’s funny,” Holmes thought dismissively before getting back to whatever was on her screen.
Soon after, her appointment was done, and just as she was about to leave, the salon owner told her that the man from the corner was asking for his number to be passed along to her. She was obviously shocked. But again, she thought nothing of it.
It wasn’t until she started seeing him more often around Almeda, a sleepy area in Houston that she started to take notice. It was hard not to. The man dripped regal confidence and commanded attention everywhere he went.
And then, one night, he finally made his move at a local bar. He introduced himself as Lyndell Price, charmed his way into her heart, and before long, the two were walking down the aisle and starting a business together— Turkey Leg Hut.
Turkey Leg Hut
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The idea for Turkey Leg Hut came from a dream Nakia Holmes had. In it, she was running a fleet of barbecue trucks serving up savory turkey legs.
At her son’s football games, Holmes would see throngs of people swarming the food stands and think, “I’m going to recreate that, but bigger and better.”
So, after pitching the idea to her husband, the couple pooled money from their full-time jobs to launch their first turkey leg stand in a bustling parking lot behind a popular restaurant. It was during the 2016 rodeo season, which is typically 28 days long, so the foot traffic would be constant.
The stand was an instant hit, no surprise there, though, as Holmes had taken their beloved fair food and added her own spin: sausage on a stick, gourmet boudin, tender turkey legs stuffed with mouth-watering seasonings, and sautéed vegetables.
Not long after, Holmes realized she had to leave her full-time junior project manager job at a litigation firm to run the growing business.
Less than a year later, in April 2016, Holmes and Price opened their brick-and-mortar location, a small but homey eatery in the town where it all started, Third Ward.
Thanks to her husband’s larger-than-life personality both in-person and online, word spread fast, and soon, scores of people were flocking to the location to enjoy their turkey-themed dishes.
On a daily basis, Turkey Leg Hut raked in tens of thousands of dollars, and the celeb-approved restaurant was considered a bastion of Houston’s Black culture. Life was good, everyone was happy, and Holmes was living her dream.
So, what went wrong?
The Turning Point
For those who missed it, Turkey Leg Hut was shut down late last year, unraveling in a storm of controversies from health code violations to millions in debt, arson, violence, lawsuits, and, most disturbingly, Nakia Holmes’ allegations of physical and emotional abuse by Price.
“We had the restaurant for six months, and then things slowly started to come crashing down,” Holmes told Essence. “But before we go there, it’s important to look at where the trouble started.
On December 31st, 2016, Price and three others were incarcerated for their involvement in a stolen identity refund fraud scheme (SIRF). He was sentenced to 48 months. This was just months before he and Holmes were set to open Turkey Leg Hut’s brick-and-mortar location.
Holmes claims she was blindsided.
“What he was incarcerated for was something that happened prior to me even knowing him,” she told the news outlet. “It hit me like a ton of bricks.”
But instead of letting the setback derail her, Holmes took charge. She acquired a building in December 2017, launched the restaurant, and built a team of 25 employees, who, she says, felt more like family.
Under her leadership, Turkey Leg Hut thrived, expanding beyond its humble beginnings.
“I had four partners at the time,” she explained. “Because {Price} was away, and technically, he couldn’t be on anything, like any of the paperwork, the liquor license, any of that. And so, I assumed sole responsibility for the business at that time.”
That system worked smoothly until Price returned home on October 4, 2018.
“We clashed on everything,” Holmes recalled.
She had always led with trust, preferring to empower her team rather than micromanage. Price, however, took a different approach, dictating decisions and inserting himself into every aspect of the business, particularly the finances.
That’s when everything started to unravel.
The Dress Code Controversy
By 2021, Turkey Leg Hut had become a hotspot, drawing in both locals and out-of-towners eager to get their hands on its famous stuffed turkey legs.
But soon, Price noticed that the restaurant’s patrons didn’t quite look the way he’d envisioned them to. So, on July 2, 2021, ahead of the Independence Day rush, he took to Turkey Leg Hut’s social media to announce a new dress code.
The post read:
- No excessively revealing clothing; including distressed or ripped clothing that is revealing, and shorts must cover your entire bottom.
- No obscene language or baggy clothing. No inappropriate graphics or language. No excessively baggy, saggy pants.
- No house attire. This includes wave caps, durags, house shoes, or shower caps.
- No exposed undergarments, including sports bras, bras, panties, or any other garments resembling these items.
- No swimwear of any kind is allowed.
The announcement sparked a national debate, with critics accusing the restaurant of discrimination and enforcing anti-Black policies.
Some onlookers even took to X (formerly Twitter) to call out the brand’s “hypocrisy,” pointing out that both owners had been seen wearing ripped jeans. Others noted that Turkey Leg Hut’s club-like atmosphere—booming music and oversized alcoholic drinks—directly contradicted its so-called family-friendly vision.
As she did then, Holmes reiterated that the policy was Price’s idea but added that it was the start of a kind of pattern with her husband: He would make impulsive, unilateral decisions, and when the backlash hit, she was left to pick up the pieces.
The US Foods Lawsuit
The next issue was a contentious fallout with the brand’s supplier, US Foods, which sued the restaurant for $1.2 million over unpaid invoices.
According to Holmes, their relationship with the national food distributor had always been amicable, with US Foods continuing to supply goods and services despite overdue payments.
“We had a great partnership with them,” Holmes told Essence of their former vendor. “We ordered from them twice a week and paid them twice a week.”
She explained that, on a monthly basis, the restaurant’s outstanding balance with US Foods would typically range between $300,000 and $400,000, with payments spread out over 12 months.
However, thanks to their friendly relationship, the debt would often be “frozen” until they could settle it, allowing supplies to continue flowing despite overdue invoices.
That all changed after Price used expletives during a heated exchange with a US Foods representative. Shortly after, the company filed its 2022 lawsuit against Turkey Leg Hut.
So, by the time 2023 rolled out, the restaurant was facing major financial difficulties, which was baffling especially considering that the popular eatery and its spin-offs raked in droves of customers daily.
Local reports revealed that the restaurant had been buried in financial woes for almost a year at that point, and dozens of health code violations after a court-appointed trustee took over the business, per Holmes.
On March 26, 2023, Turkey Leg Hut’s limited liability company filed for bankruptcy, and court documents showed they would no longer be operating out of their original location. By November, their landlord had officially terminated the lease.
The Separation
Amid all their financial woes, Holmes remained silent and faithfully stood by her husband as a dutiful wife.
“That’s all I know,” she told Essence when asked why she didn’t walk away, even as the cracks in their marriage began to show.
Coming from a family where her parents had been married for over 47 years and her grandparents for 60, Holmes said she was wired to stick it out. She also said it was hard to see through the gaslighting and manipulation from Price.
“Have you ever met a narcissist?” she asked the outlet.
But in November 2023, after a heated argument with Price, Holmes said enough was enough. In an Instagram post she uploaded, deleted, and then re-shared, the restaurateur announced their split, accusing Price of being “emotionally and mentally” abusive.
She also filed for a temporary restraining order against him.
A self-described introvert, Holmes said she struggled with going public, which explained the on-and-off posting.
“I’ve always been the quiet one in our relationship,” she explained.
She added that this was exacerbated by her being “checked out years before filing,” worn down by the verbal and mental abuse and infidelity.
“The day that I put that statement out that I was leaving, that was a time for me where I knew I couldn’t continue to wait,” she said. “I knew what I had to do. If I do not leave today, somebody’s going to get hurt. I got to go.”
“And I didn’t think anything of it. I just knew that because of the type of person that he is, I knew it was going to be a fight. I didn’t know everything that I was going to endure. I didn’t know what was coming my way. I just said to myself, whatever comes my way, I’m going to be ready, and I’m going to figure it out, and I’m going to fight.”
Not long after the divorce announcement, Holmes fired Price from Turkey Leg Hut.
Then, in February, per EmilyCottontop reports, she terminated Price and other staff members, including the restaurant’s accountant, whom she claimed was working closely with her husband, via email.
In a statement to CW 35, Holmes explained that the layoffs resulted from “financial misconduct” concerns.
On March 9, 2024, an early morning fire damaged the restaurant’s offices. Shortly after, a court ruling was found in favor of Steve Rogers, one of Turkey Leg Hut’s early partners. As a result, Holmes and Price were ordered to pay Rogers $931,111.12 of what he claimed he was owed.
On March 26, Holmes and the Turkey Leg Hut filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Holmes told Essence that although Rogers only invested $30,000, they had paid him approximately $865,000 to buy him out of the business a few years earlier.
The additional $100,000, she explained, was the attorney’s fees that Rogers insisted the couple cover.
What Comes Next?
A few months after Turkey Leg Hut shut its doors in November 2024, Price opened a grilled oyster pop-up right across the street.
He was being petty, no doubt, but Holmes wasn’t about to let him faze her.
Instead, the mom of one is focusing on her future as she waits for their divorce to be finalized.
As for her personal life, Holmes shared that she’s been putting more thought into the people she surrounds herself with.
“I’m focusing my energy on loving those who love me,” she said.
And as far as her business ventures go, Holmes mentioned she’s working on some exciting new projects, but is keeping everything under wraps for now. So, we’ll just have to wait and see what she’s got in store next.
