Mule Train, the first restaurant from husband-and-wife duo Mike and Shyretha Sheats, opened to the public Sept. 30 in Downtown Atlanta. The pair boasts a combined 26 years in the industry, spanning the Southeast as part of the Atlanta, Athens, and Charleston, SC, restaurant scenes.
Both Mike and Shyretha grew up in Northeast Georgia, and the two met in Athens. After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu Atlanta, Mike got a job at Ruth’s Chris Steak House before working at a Hilton DoubleTree and Muss & Turners. Shyretha entered the food industry through volunteering with Crop Mob Atlanta after getting laid off from the corporate job she got after graduating from Georgia State University.
At one point in his career, Mike’s mentor, Ryan Hidinger, advised him to leave Georgia and explore another city’s restaurant scene, so he and Shyretha moved to Charleston. It was there, while Mike was at McCrady’s and Shyretha was at The Gin Joint, that the duo conceptualized what would ultimately become their pop-up The Plate Sale.
“We were talking about pop-ups before we knew we were gonna do pop-ups,” Mike said.
Mike and Shyretha returned to Atlanta in 2015 and helped Ryan Smith and Kara Hidinger (Ryan Hidinger’s sister), open Staplehouse’s brick-and-mortar location (Hidinger passed away from gallbladder cancer the year before). After their shifts on Saturday nights, Mike and Shyretha would visit Octopus Bar, where they developed a relationship with chef and co-owner Angus Brown.
Brown, one of The Plate Sale’s earliest supporters, offered Octopus Bar as a venue and hosted The Plate Sale’s first pop-up in 2017 (Brown sadly passed away later that year). Word of mouth among their industry network boosted attendance several times over.
“We thought 40 to 60 people maybe. We ended up doing like 200 people,” Mike said.
The Plate Sale steadily popped up until 2018. For the next several years, the family started splitting their time between Athens and Oglethorpe County, where Shyretha’s family had landed. After the COVID-19 shutdown, they hosted pop-ups at Hendershot’s Cafe in Athens and met Creature Comforts co-founder Chris Herron.
Following Herron’s advice, Mike and Shyretha returned to Atlanta, got restaurant jobs, and bided their time until a developer approached them about opening their own spot. Then, a broker came to them about a space on Broad Street.
The couple was familiar with the neighborhood from when Shyretha attended Georgia State. They spent some of their earliest years together exploring the neighborhood together, and it felt like home.
“We were hesitant [at first], but also we were excited because this was the first time that someone actually was believing in us,” Mike said. “They partnered with us and gave us a fully built out restaurant, which doesn’t happen to a lot of people. We’re completely grateful and want to take advantage of the opportunity.”
The namesake came easily: Mule Train, Mike’s family’s gathering spot in Oglethorpe County.
“I never knew what it was, but from what my aunts and uncles have told me, it was literally a wooden stove with a pool table and they had moonshine buried underground,” he said.
While their work has been pigeonholed as Southern, Mike and Shyretha disagree with that label, calling Mule Train’s cuisine “Southern-leaning,” if anything.
“I’m obviously inspired by the South, but I’m not just inspired by the South. I’m inspired by old foodways, because I’m seeing a lot of modern techniques going away. People are actually cooking food now,” Mike said. He’s also inspired by global cuisine and has been working with local farmers for nearly 14 years now. Good hospitality and seasonal ingredients sit at the forefront of Mule Train’s ethos.
Mike’s definition of open-door hospitality originates with family gatherings.
“You can always come in, they have something to offer,” he said. “We wanted a space where when you entered, it felt like walking into someone’s home.”
However, Mike and Shyretha have learned from their years in restaurants that hospitality extends throughout the staff as well.
“Obviously we’re here to take care of our guests. But we also want that same energy fed into our team,” Shyretha said.
Shyretha told Rough Draft that Mule Train’s menu will also reflect the team’s capabilities. Right now, for example, they’re making sausage since a team member has that skill.
For now, Mule Train is putting emphasis on lunch, although the restaurant will be open for dinner on Saturdays and Sundays. Whatever comes in the future will develop alongside Mule Train’s customer base and their team.
Mule Train, 87 Broad St. SW; Noon to 4 p.m., Wednesday to Friday, and Noon to 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
