Kansas City Chiefs 100-Sack Man Carlos Dunlap Runs A Thriving Brunch Restaurant

On a 3rd and 7 late in the first quarter of Week 10, Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Carlos Dunlap beat Jacksonville Jaguars right tackle Jawaan Taylor and helped take down Trevor Lawrence.

Dunlap summersaulted in celebration — and for good reason.

That half sack made NFL history. Dunlap, who faces his former Seattle Seahawks team this weekend, became the 41st NFL player to reach 100 career sacks and the eighth active player to do so. But it also carried greater personal significance.

Carlos Dunlap’s father, Carlos Dunlap Sr., was killed in January when he was struck by a car as he crossed Ashley Phosphate Road in Charleston, S.C. on foot.

His son, the 13-year NFL veteran, vowed to get his 100th sack in his father’s honor.

“Once I lost him this year, I wanted to go get that last goal,” Dunlap exclusively shared, “and dedicate it to him.”

His father inspired him off the field as well.

Dunlap Sr. ran his own business, Dunlap Bail Bonding, for nearly 30 years. His children worked there, and his father advised them: “Only invest in things you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

His son did that when he founded a brunch restaurant in Miami called Honey Uninhibited in the summer of 2019. It fulfilled Dunlap’s passion of food and also filled a need in the Miami restaurant scene, which lacked Southern breakfast spots or bunch restaurants open late in the afternoon.

Dunlap grew up in Charleston — a renowned foodie city — but he was a picky eater as a youngster. It wasn’t until he entered the NFL and started traveling more that he became interested in cuisine.

“The idea of having a spot where all my favorites were at was always in the back of mind,” Dunlap said. “Then opportunity came to open up a restaurant, and I jumped on it.”

Located in the Brickell financial district of Miami, Honey Uninhibited has a distinctly urban and Southern vibe inspired by the Low Country in Charleston.

The menu includes savory and sweets and offers everything from sandwiches to French toast. The most popular items are chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits and lobster truffle mac and cheese.

Honey Uninhibited has a unique ambience as well, featuring a green wall and a hip hop vibe. Music plays in the background, and portraits of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G adorn the walls.

“This concept was Carlos’ brainchild,” said Mario Nocero, chief operating officer of Unihibited Hospitality. “He’s extremely involved. He’s a hands-on owner.”

Dunlap even came up with the restaurant name. He ruminated on it, put down several ideas in his phone, said them out loud and even ran it by friends and family.

The end result was a clever play on words.

“I liked the fact that it had a dual meaning,” Dunlap said. “Honey seemed very fitting because you can come and taste our honey, and/or you can come and bring your honey, and all the honies love honey.”

Plus, there’s nothing more Southern than a grandma saying, “Come on in, Honey!”

Uninhibited, the second part of the name, had meaning too.

“Miami is a glitz and glamourous town,” he said. “I wanted to be just outside of that and I wanted to create an environment with Southern food that allowed people to relax and be themselves without the peer influences of the fast life of Miami.”

Honey Uninhibited is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m and because of long lines, weekend reservations are recommended. Even Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill had to go through his agent (both Hill and Dunlap are represented by Drew Rosenhaus) to snag a spot. And Dunlap says Honey Uninhibited has produced millions in sales.

“It’s a strong economic model,” Nocero said.

But business wasn’t always so brisk.

Eight months into operating, the restaurant was just hitting its stride when Covid-19 resulted in a country-wide shutdown.

“The pandemic crucified my business,” Dunlap said. “Fortunately, that wasn’t my only endeavor, but I felt every bit of it.”

Dunlap exercised every opportunity to keep the restaurant afloat, including working with the landlord, and benefited from the state of Florida, which opened up businesses earlier than many other states.

The resilient restaurant is now popular with locals and celebrities. Several Chiefs, including Chris Lammons, Deon Bush, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Chris Jones — some of whom even stumbled upon the restaurant not knowing it was Dunlap’s — have dined there.

Jones, who worked out with Dunlap and trainer Pete Bommarito during the offseason, was the one who shared the sack on Dunlap’s takedown of Lawrence, which got him to No. 100.

The play of Jones, who has a team-high 11 sacks this year, and Dunlap, who signed a one-year deal with the Chiefs before the season, are two reasons for an improved Chiefs pass rush. (Entering Week 15, the Chiefs ranked fourth in the NFL with 42 sacks — already 11 more than they produced in all of 2021.)

While playing in every game and starting two, Dunlap’s snap counts percentages have ranged from 23% to 75%, and he has used his 6-6, 285-pound fame to deflect six passes, something he’s done 75 times during his career.

Dunlap also has four sacks this season, and his defensive line coach Joe Cullen compares his persistent ability to stay alive while rushing to former Baltimore Ravens star Terrell Suggs, who latched onto the Chiefs late in his career like Dunlap.

“You never see him just get blocked and stop. He’s always working to get to the quarterback,” Cullen said. “Sometimes he doesn’t always beat the guy clean, but he impacts it, knows when to counter back.”

The 33-year-old Dunlap is clearly still productive, but he’s been preparing for the next chapter of his life for some time.

He earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Miami while still playing for the Cincinnati Bengals and carefully considered the business landscape before starting Honey Uninhibited.

The next goal for his restaurant venture is to franchise it. Dunlap noted that while restaurants usually don’t become profitable for the first four or five years, having a chain of them enables bulk ordering on goods and leads to better value.

He started the Uninhibited Hospitality Group this year and purchased another restaurant location in Miami’s Coconut Grove.

Perhaps the next step is returning to his roots in Charleston, where he learned business acumen from his father.

“I want to take my flavors back home,” Dunlap said. “Even though I’ve traveled the world, I want to bring the world back to Charleston.”