Southport Magazine

Two months after opening The Saucy Southerner, Matt Thorne had to shift gears to turn his new restaurant into a take-out only operation. 

“The biggest changes learning to do more with less staff,” Thorne said. “I never know what each day will bring. There’s no consistency, no rhyme or reason. That’s what makes it hard.” 

That uncertainty, combined with a big drop off in daily sales and challenges getting and storing the food and supplies he needs to operate, has made the last few weeks a huge challenge. But he isn’t giving up.

In fact, he says, the experience has made him a better businessman and a better person. “I want to be successful. There is always opportunity,” he said. “And you can help others. I can help someone who wouldn’t have had a meal otherwise.”

Thorne credits family with keeping him upbeat and energized. “just thinking about them keeps me up,” he said.

He’s says he’s also been touched by the support of the community. “I’ve learned how much the community really cares about us,” he said. “I would never have guessed it would be like that as new as we are.”

The slower pace of business has also allowed him to leave the kitchen and go outside and interact with customers, from a safe distance of course. And that interaction has given him hope. He said customers are simply telling him, “We aren’t going to let you fail.”

Another lesson for Thorne has been the extent to which businesses rely on each other. “I never saw before how much we supported local businesses,” he said. “And this has really hurt local businesses.” 

That speaks to the importance of continuing to support locally-owned restaurants rather than franchises and chains. “We source our food locally, use a local produce vendor, for example,” he says. When you support his restaurant, he says, you are also supporting an entire network of local jobs. 

Thorne has benefited from his own network of restaurant friends. With deliveries coming fewer times a week, he is able to store some supplies at Old Bridge Diner on Oak Island. He said he talks to the owner of Old Bridge, Mike Jones, and Chris Smith at Mr. P’s daily about how to deal with the new reality and things they can do to draw people out. “Everyone is doing it a little differently,” he said.

Thorne credits one of the foundations of his new business, a focus on being unique, with helping him adapt to changing conditions. “I’ve challenged my staff to think about how we can do things differently,” he said.

Whatever the future holds, Thorne has concerns. It costs more per customer to do take out and the longer he is not able to serve people on his property, the harder it will be.

“I just hope people don’t forget what it was to go out to eat together, to have a drink with friends in a bar,’ he said. 

“We’re doing everything we can to stay open, though” he said. “Failure isn’t an option.”

Visit the Saucy Southerner at 501 N. Howe Street for breakfast and lunch. We love the entire menu but especially recommend the Fried Green Tomato BLT. It’s absolutely heavenly.

Open Monday-Saturday 10 am- 2 pm

Check their FaceBook page for specials and all sorts of fun stuff here:

https://www.facebook.com/The-Saucy-Southerner-103540504446802