Owamni's majority Native American staff serves a menu made from indigenous ingredients such as game meats, corn, and wild plants.

[1] The restaurant does not serve ingredients that were introduced to the region by Europeans, including butter, dairy, sugar, black pepper, wheat, chicken, beef, and pork.

[7] The restaurant was originally co-owned by Dana Thompson and Sean Sherman, a member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe who is also the head chef.

[8][9] Nearly two-thirds of the 70 staff members are Native American, representing several tribes: Anishinaabe, Mdewakanton and Wahpeton-Sisseton Dakota, Navajo, Northern Cheyenne, and Oglala Lakota.

[10] Also served are sandwiches—arepas heaped with ground elk, sweet potatoes, and pepitas,[11] or, turkey,[12] or, the three sisters: black bean pureé, pickled squash, and corn.