By Ebony L. Morman 

Less than a year after opening at Camp North End, Surefire Market continues to evolve as it has since its inception. The concept began as a retail-heavy model in Rock Hill and now runs as a kitchen-driven operation in Charlotte, with most of its revenue coming from the restaurant. 

CEO Magloire Lubika traces the shift back to the beginning. He and his brothers, Joel Lutuangu, who serves as chief marketing officer, and Edric Lutuangu, chief financial officer, built the concept inside a family-owned convenience store in Rock Hill, expanding the kitchen side of the business beyond selling hot dogs. Within a year, the food drew attention and built momentum.

The early traction didn’t last uninterrupted, however. In July 2024, a kitchen fire in the convenience store forced the location to close permanently and the team to start over. Luckily, the brothers also had a food truck they ran at Slow Play Brewing in Rock Hill. 

“We tried to figure out how to make our food truck as efficient as possible,” Lubika says. “So in the event that we ever did get a restaurant, we already knew how to operate.”

The co-owners worked through that approach in real time, tightening systems, adjusting workflows, and building structure under pressure. By the time they stepped into their next phase, those lessons had already begun to shape the business.

When they arrived at Camp North End last summer, a post from local influencer Cory Wilkins (@thadailyspecial) expanded the concept’s reach, bringing new attention to the food.

That buzz that Wilkins created is connected to the quality of the food that’s on the menu, which is tight by design. It features mainly burgers and chicken sandwiches with only a few variations. Lubika doesn’t have a traditional culinary background, but that didn’t affect the outcome of the final menu.

“Me and my brothers are not chefs,” he says. “We’re just perfectionists.”

The co-owners built the menu through drawing from meals they had experienced elsewhere and refining each item until it met their standards. The process shaped a focused menu built around a quick-service model, while the team maintains an intentional approach by prioritizing consistency, using ingredients from local vendors like Savory Spice Shop, and keeping operations streamlined.

“We wanted to have a limited, very small menu so the turnaround time is quick and we can get everything out in under 10 minutes,” Lubika says.

Over time, a couple of items have come to define a Surefire experience.

The Ogden burger (beef patty seasoned with authentic African spices, topped with bacon, American cheese, caramelized onions, pickles, and housemade smacked sauce) and the honey butta chicken sandwich (hot chicken dipped in housemade honey butter, topped with creamy slaw, Surefire sauce, and sweet heat pickles) lead the way. Both draw repeat visits and help define what customers associate with the brand, becoming the orders people return for as word continues to spread.

Clarity also extends beyond the menu. 

At Camp North End, the balance between retail and kitchen has shifted in a noticeable way. In Rock Hill, the concept leaned heavily on convenience, with groceries and retail making up a larger share of the business. Here, the kitchen drives most of the activity.

“Ninety percent of our revenue is kitchen and 10 percent is retail,” Lubika says.

This change reflects both the space and the way customers engage with it. The current footprint limits how much retail the team can offer, but the long-term vision still includes a fuller convenience store experience.

Convenience remains central to their vision because it’s rooted in how they grew up. Their parents spent more than two decades owning and operating convenience stores, and Lubika and his brothers spent their early years working inside them, learning the business firsthand.

Their background continues to shape how the brothers think about Surefire. The goal isn’t just to serve food, it’s to build on what those stores represented: community. 

At the current location, a sense of community is taking shape. Groups can gather around tables, turning a quick stop into something more social, making the space feel less like a traditional quick-service restaurant and more like a place people settle into.

Lubika sees that shift happening in real time, but he views the current version of Surefire as only part of the larger plan.

“I think right now, we’re probably at like 50 percent of what Surefire actually is,” he says.

Expansion is already part of that next phase. The team is exploring lease opportunities in Charlotte, while also considering other cities like Atlanta and Greensboro. Each location will follow a slightly different model, ranging from smaller, takeout-focused spaces to larger formats that bring back more of the retail experience.

For Lubika, growth isn’t just about scale, it’s about building out the full idea.

“I think once we open more locations and actually fulfill the full vision of what Surefire can be, I think that’s when it will be successful,” he says.

For now, the focus stays on refining what’s already in front of them, continuing to build on the systems, menu, and experience that have carried them through their first year in Charlotte.

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