Behind the success of Atlanta restaurants The Vault Hidden Inside the Bank, Restaurant 10 Bar & Grill and the Rosie’s Coffee Café franchises is Atlanta restaurateur William Platt. From hearty meals to community giveaways, Platt has invested in and become an integral part of Westside Atlanta, one plate at a time. For the Atlanta mogul and philanthropist, it’s a mission that began 40 years ago.
Platt was raised in Herndon Homes, a 520-unit public housing project that the Atlanta Housing Authority demolished in 2010. He said those who grew up in the projects were always looking for a way out. At the time, the loom of the Atlanta child murders only gave the kids in his community two options when they weren’t at home: school and the gym. Pushing that desire to make it out of Herndon Homes was police officer Locke, who headed the Police Athletic League (PAL), an organization in which members of the police force coach young people in sports and help with school-related activities.
Platt said seeing how Locke cared about the community planted the seeds for his philanthropy.
The first Rosie’s Coffee Cafe location that opened on Sylvan Road 10 years ago soon became two more, one near the Mercedes-Benz Stadium and another in Carrollton, with Restaurant Ten and The Vault following after. From conception to completion at the hands of his own construction company, Platt worked to build institutions that would fit the acronym of The Bank: blessing all neighborhood kids. It’s a revitalization effort that reflects his hope to give back to the neighborhood that raised him.
“I was, once upon a time, a neighborhood kid,” Platt said. “I’ve invested millions of dollars to make my dream come true. So, my motto is impact over income. And I always knew that these areas that I was concentrating on were underserved communities. I took the chance, and I reinvented my community, and that’s what I always believed in.”
His latest venture is The Vault Hidden Inside the Bank, a restaurant located at 3120 Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway. Its unique design is apparent from the parking lot, where a display armored car sits in front of the matte black building, which opens up to an interior that melds a sleekness and luxury often seen at eateries in Midtown or Buckhead. The restaurant serves Southern-fusion cuisine, from fall-off-the-bone oxtail to blackened salmon and crab fried rice, which chef Kevin Griffin said is made from scratch.
Amid the promise of good food, it’s hard to ignore the huge bank vault that transforms the restaurant into The Bank, a spacious event venue that has hosted concerts for people such as Mary J. Blige and T.I. and hosts community events, including back-to-school drives and Thanksgiving turkey drives.
“We’ve served thousands and thousands of families, and my goal was always, if we had an event in the back, then we can come up to the front and have dinner or lunch and fellowship about what took place and do a recap here. So that was always my vision, and that’s why I built it the way I did.”
The venue has garnered plenty of support from the community, including Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and the City of Atlanta. It has served as more than just a restaurant and event center, but a signal of the investment into a community that has been repeatedly overlooked. In February 2021, Microsoft announced a major expansion into Georgia, purchasing 90 acres of land for a corporate campus near the Grove Park neighborhood that would bring 15,000 jobs. However, in 2023, the tech giant hit pause on the Westside project, dispelling hope for the community and leaving them with high property values and tax increases due to the anticipation.
“I could have pulled out just like Microsoft and taken my business and investment to Buckhead. I could have gone to any other place — Doraville or Brookhaven — but I chose my community.”
Platt hopes to fill that gap, providing families with a five-star meal and five-star service right in their backyard. With the help of his business partner Deshaun Shelton, Platt shared that he’s organizing a scholarship fund for kids in the community. He’s also shooting a documentary titled “The Hand of Life” that will take viewers on a journey of how he’s played the hand he’s been dealt with, from growing up in Herndon Homes to a businessman revitalizing the Westside of Atlanta.
