If you have ever heard the phrase, quality costs less, you probably heard it from a person who knows the true value of going to a mom and pop restaurant in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. At one time in the history, most places resembled the mom and pop restaurant atmosphere of the OBX. Chain restaurants, serving pre-prepped and pre-packaged food were the exception, not the rule. In the Outer Banks, mom and pop restaurants still dominate the landscape on the bypass and beach roads ranging from Duck and Corolla through Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, Southern Shores, Manteo and beyond.
Mom And Pops Are Outer Banks Restaurants Offering Fresh Food, Farm To Table Ingredients, And Healthier Dishes
There is no question that fresh food, farm to table food, Wild Caught Game, And Ocean To Table seafood is the best food for the human body. It invariably also tastes better. Processing, storing, shipping, enhancing, and worse do not help the flavor of food. But I would take it a step further. For a Mom and Pop restaurant this kind of fresh, local sourced food thinking is a way of life. At Argyles restaurant in the OBX, a true Mom and Pop, it has always been this way.
I put together a few ways that this Outer Banks Mom and Pop or Farm to table restaurant embodies this way of life…
OBX Mom and Pop restaurants vs Big Box Chain restaurants
- Mom and pops use fresh ingredients and make everything from scratch
- At Chains most items are pre made at corporate production centers and are either microwaved or baked off.
- As a Mom and Pops we make our own desserts and our own bread too.
- Mom and pops are vested in you having a great meal and service as this is how they make their living. They depend on their customers to keep coming back so that they can survive. They will strive to remember your name and something about you and your family. As time progresses you become part of their family too!
- Big chains go for volume and are not so vested in you coming back. Most times they do not know your name or anything about your family.
And At A Mom And Pop You Are Appreciated And Welcomed
For me, having a customer come back to my restaurant is the sign of them receiving value and quality for their money. This is very important to me as I know how hard people work for their money and if you are spending it at my restaurant I will work very hard to make sure that you have a great experience. As a mom and pop, we hand pick our produce, we hand pick our meat and seafood. Getting the best for our customers is what we do! We expect it for ourselves, so why shouldn’t we give it to our customers. Getting to know our customers puts us on a more intimate friendly path with our customers. We become friends and we are interested in your familiy and how they are doing. In my business, I have families who first came in with their small children for dinner. Now their children are coming in with their children. We can say, I remember when you were that age and were running around outside playing. It is a great feeling.
And In Many Cases Prices Are The Same Or Very Close As Big Box Chain Restaurants
Prices in both types of restaurants are very close if not the same, so why would you not go into the small family owned business? If you pay $2.00 more and the owner has the best steak for $2.00 more wouldn’t you think it is a better choice to go and get the fresher meal? And the fresh meat is tastier and much healthier. Eating healthy fresh tastier is a trend that can sustain us for a lifetime. If given the choice over pumped out chain food or freshly chosen and prepared food, you are cheating yourself to not choose the Mom and Pop. Oh, and you are cheating your taste buds too.
Sincerely,
Debra
The “Mom” In Charge Of This “Mom And Pop”
PS.
I mentioned what makes us Farm To Table. Check out more about this subject at this link
