08/30/2026
LONG POST BUT I NEED TO VENT FOR A MINUTE.
I’m sure a lot of my fellow restaurant owners and small business owners can relate to this.
First, I want to say that we are EXTREMELY thankful for our customers. The overwhelming majority of you are amazing, supportive, understanding, and are the reason we are able to keep doing what we love every day.
But every now and then, there are those few complaints that really get to you as a small business owner, and one of the biggest ones we hear is about prices. So I just want to ask… have we forgotten that small businesses have to make a living too?
I am gonna put two receipts from McDonald’s above from two different days just for my niece.. one kids meal was almost $7. Ours is $7…. One 10 piece nugget with fries and a drink with a water was almost $14…. Our fresh made to order chicken tender combo is that price! And it’s not frozen…
Our prices are very similar to other restaurants around us, and on many items, we are actually CHEAPER. Yet sometimes people look at a locally owned, family run restaurant and expect our prices to somehow be dramatically lower than huge fast food chains.
We aren’t a billion dollar corporation. We’re a family run, mom and pop restaurant.
I personally buy fast food for family members pretty often, so I see what it costs. You can go to McDonald’s and order a Quarter Pounder meal and spend pretty close to what you’re going to spend on one of our burger meals. And yes, I already know somebody is thinking, “But their burger is a quarter pounder.” 😂
Our burgers are pretty close! Ours just look thinner because they are literally SMASHED completely down… hence the name smash burger.
But here’s the bigger difference…
We are making your food fresh and made to order. We aren’t serving you frozen burger patties. We’re preparing food, cooking it fresh, paying employees, paying utilities, buying supplies, paying insurance, paying fees, paying taxes, replacing equipment, and buying groceries at the SAME crazy prices everyone else is seeing at the grocery store.
If you think groceries are expensive for your household, imagine buying enough food to feed hundreds of people every week. The cost of meat has gone up. Eggs have gone up. Cooking oil has gone up. Produce has gone up. To-go containers, cups, lids, napkins, sauces. EVERYTHING costs money. And unfortunately, we don’t get to tell our suppliers, “Sorry, our customers don’t want prices to go up, so can you charge us 1999 prices?” 😂
This isn’t 1999 anymore.
What I wish people would think about is this:
You’ll spend $12, $13, $14, $15+ at a fast food chain without thinking twice. You’ll go back again next week and pay it again. Those corporations serve thousands upon thousands of customers every day across the country and make millions and billions of dollars. But when a small, locally owned restaurant charges around the same price or maybe even a couple dollars more on certain things for fresh, made to order food, suddenly we’re “too expensive.” And you wanna leave a crap review or blah blah.
Why is it okay for the giant corporations to make money, but the little family owned restaurant down the road isn’t supposed to?
We have families too.
We have bills too.
Our employees have families and bills too.
And yes, we have to make a profit. That isn’t greed. That is how a business stays OPEN. You wonder why people shut down, it’s cause of people like this. Even the small amount of people. And there’s another side of our business that many people may not even realize.
Every month, I personally spend thousands of dollars helping feed people in need through our Giving Wall. We have fed people who were struggling, people who were homeless, families who simply needed a meal, and people who may not have known where their next meal was coming from. We don’t care what you struggle with, we don’t care if you’re male, female, white, brown, purple, gay or straight. You are people who matter to us. As Dolly said we are supposed to love and support one another no matter who you are or what you do….
We don’t do that because somebody makes us.
We do it because we have hearts here.
We genuinely care about this community. We genuinely care about the people who walk through our doors. And we genuinely care about serving food that we are proud to put in front of you.
Could we buy cheaper ingredients? Sure.
Could we cut corners? Absolutely.
Could we serve frozen meat and lower quality food just to shave a little money off? Probably.
But that isn’t who we want to be.
I have never been one to go into another restaurant and complain about their prices. When I decide to eat somewhere, I look at the menu, I see the price, and I decide whether I want to spend it. And when it’s another local business, I LOVE knowing that my money is helping another family, another dream, another employee and another business in my community keep their doors open.
Small businesses are fighting harder than people realize right now. So before criticizing a locally owned restaurant over a dollar or two, please remember there are real people behind that counter.
There’s no corporate office behind us writing checks.
There’s a family.
There are employees.
There are bills.
There are grocery invoices that would probably make some of you fall out of your chair. 😂 There are long days, early mornings, late nights, repairs, payroll, food costs, and a whole lot of stress that customers never see.
And behind all of that is a group of people who genuinely care about what they’re doing.
So yes, this was my little vent for the day. 😂❤️
But more than anything, it’s a reminder:
SUPPORT LOCAL.
Not just when local is cheaper.
Not just when local is running a special.
Not just when local is giving something away.
Support local because local businesses are supporting YOUR community. And for Christ sakes if you have a small messed up order or something wasn’t what you liked then just tell us. We will fix anything and do anything to make you happy. Don’t run to social media and complain about businesses like you do. Communication will get you a longer way.
To the huge majority of our customers who continue to show up, support us, recommend us, share our posts, bring your families in, and allow us to keep doing what we love THANK YOU.
You are the reason we’re still here, and we appreciate you more than you know. ❤️
Think before you speak. Be kind. Support local. And remember small businesses have to make a living too. ❤️
God bless you all.
