Waco Food Mart is like your grandmother’s kitchen. A small television is on, folks gather close at the tightly packed tables and the smell of comfort food fills the air. Two hundred fifty-nine people rate their burger the very best in America.
Rebecca Boswer, 31, says, “The burger has real flavor.”
Also, nobody wants to buy from Wal-Mart, so they choose Waco burgers because they’re cheaper and better quality than the meat at Wal-Mart.
Worker Adrienne Morris adds that they also have the “best fried chicken in the whole town. People drive for miles and miles” to get it.
And it’s true. Customers drive a half hour from Richmond just for dinner. Next to the chicken is coffee with a sign that boldly claims to be “the best coffee in town.”
There’s a bench out front called the “liar’s bench.” Men like to sit out there in the mornings with their breakfast, coffee and cigarettes to shoot the breeze.
But the secret to being the best place around has everything to do with the people. Kathy Jones has worked at the Waco Food Mart for 40 years and knows by name almost every person who walks through the door. Kathy grew up with most of the customers, so they’re like family. When folks come in, she checks in on how their families are doing.
Waco Food Mart is more than just a country store. Folks come for great food and conversation, and leave knowing that they have a place that feels like home.
“This is the best place you can find,” says faithful customer Dillard Hill. “It’s the people.”
