Easton mother of 11 fulfills restaurant dream, feeds Grammy-winning superstar
EASTON, Pa. — When Heather Griffith Thomas started visualizing her own dream restaurant while flipping through supply catalogs at McDonald’s 20 years ago, she never imagined she’d one day be hand-delivering a custom meal to Grammy-winning rapper Cardi B.
But that’s exactly what happened on September 20th, when the pregnant superstar made an appearance at the Palmer Park Mall, and Thomas was ready with a dish she’d crafted specifically with the artist in mind.
“I wanted to serve Cardi B because I’m a true believer that food is important to the soul,” said Thomas, 53, owner of Wrap’d Tight restaurant and food truck. “I know this young lady is out here working hard, and I see food like art. She needed something that was for her soul.”
Thomas had researched Cardi B’s food preferences and kept her pregnancy in mind while creating “Am I the Drama?”, a combination of hot honey chicken and mac and cheese that she named after the rapper’s recent album title. When the moment came to present it, Thomas watched as the artist savored each bite.
“She wants another one,” Thomas recalled her husband relaying from Cardi B’s security team, where he stood in support. The memory still brings tears to her eyes. “I was just so happy. She’s pregnant. I fed her, her baby. I was able to nourish the soul of somebody that’s an icon.”
“She was savoring what I took my time for. And that was amazing,” Thomas said.
The encounter culminated when Cardi B told Thomas, “You need to teach me how to make this for my man.”
Thomas’s path to that moment began in the early 2000s, when she was working as a laboratory technician at St. Luke’s Hospital, where she spent 30 years supporting her 11 children while pursuing her dreams of owning a restaurant on the side.
The breakthrough came when she started bringing homemade wraps to work. Colleagues began placing money on her desk, requesting weekly orders of what would become her signature sandwiches, the Lehigh Valley knows and loves today.
“I made a name up, which was Wrap’d Tight,” Thomas said. “Originally what I wanted to do was salads, but wraps were just coming out 20 years ago. Nobody was really eating them.”
After incorporating feedback from coworkers, Thomas took her concept to City Hall to inquire about commercial space. A chance encounter in line led to a meeting with a contractor who offered to bring her vision to life, and in 2005, she opened her first restaurant in Bethlehem.
The journey hasn’t been easy. Thomas has operated five different locations, including one that was demolished for a high-rise development. Her current location at Palmer Park Mall represents her latest chapter in what she calls a labor of love.
When Thomas learned about Cardi B’s mall appearance, she saw an opportunity to showcase her culinary skills to someone she admired for their work ethic.
“I see that in her and I love that I was able to relate to that in her, me being a hustler,” Thomas said, drawing parallels between her own journey raising 11 children while balancing work and building a business, and Cardi B’s rise to fame. “My life exploded a few times in my life, but me and my 11 kids, we kept moving.”
Thomas arrived at the mall at 7 am with her food truck ready, serving breakfast items and coffee to the growing crowd of fans. As lines wrapped around the building, she coordinated between her truck and restaurant location, eventually focusing all resources on feeding the thousands who waited hours to see the artist.
Her team took orders in line so fans wouldn’t lose their spots, and they provided free snacks to children. The effort paid off when Thomas got her chance to personally serve Cardi B.
The Palmer Park Mall location represents Thomas’s commitment to supporting local businesses in the Lehigh Valley. She hopes the attention from the Cardi B visit will increase foot traffic not just to her restaurant, but to the mall’s other small businesses.
“We go to the bigger restaurants and we spend $25, $30 and up to have a solid meal, and you can come closer and smaller and still enjoy a solid meal for 10 to 15 bucks,” Thomas said.
The “Am I the Drama?” meal, which captivated Cardi B, is now a permanent menu item available both as a bowl and a wrap. Thomas, who also offers private chef services and cooking classes, continues to operate the restaurant with her family.
Her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs echoes the patience that brought her to this moment: “Everything is time. You have to give things time to manifest. Cardi B was not an overnight sensation. She worked hard in the streets before she ever was Cardi B.”
At 53, Thomas still marvels at achieving her longtime dream. “I walk in my restaurant and I go, ‘this is my stuff,'” she said. “It just seems unreal some days.”
Wrap’d Tight is located in Palmer Park Mall at 123 Palmer Park Mall, Easton. The restaurant also operates a food truck for events throughout the Lehigh Valley.
