To Grant McDonald, owner of Norman McDonald’s Country Drive In, nothing is more important than family.
Since Grant’s father Norman opened the restaurant in Philpot in 1964, just about every member of the McDonald family has spent time working behind the counter. Despite the family tradition, Grant has decided that he won’t be passing the restaurant on to his son.
“I’m going to be done here in a few years, and I don’t want my son to be in this business,” Grant said. “It’s too hard being an independent out there these days. I always tell him, you need to go to school and you need to find yourself a good job with retirement benefits. Working here you don’t get paid for vacations, you don’t get any retirement.”
Over the years, McDonald’s Drive In has been much more than just a quick burger stop. For many, it was a community center of sorts, a meeting place for friends and families.
“This place would be full of coffee drinkers at 7:30 a.m., and they’ve got keys too, so if they get here before me they open the place up,” Grant said.
The restaurant’s walls are covered with photos of regulars who have passed away over the years. And the television in the corner is usually tuned to and old western, the usual entertainment for years.
From the log cabin walls to the 1950s milkshake mixer, the place has the feel of a quaint and cozy time capsule. In a way, it is a shrine to a lifestyle that once was.
Nowadays, everything at the restaurant revolves around the Friday night fish fry. Live music and deep-fried catfish bring in big crowds. On a good night, customers consume 80 pounds of catfish and account for a large share of the restaurant’s sales.
But most importantly to the McDonald family, the shouts and laughter of the crowd bring back memories of the restaurant’s heyday.
