Scott and Lisa Poole turned their lifetime of restaurant and business experience into not one but two restaurants — one on the north side and one on the South Hill. These longtime Spokane residents have created a place where you can bring the family, cheer on your favorite sports team and enjoy a heartwarming meal from sunup to sundown. Weekly specials include Taco Tuesday, Wine & Whiskey Wednesday, and weekend breakfast with mimosa and Bloody Mary specials, but any day is a good day to enjoy the Poole's hometown hospitality.
How did you choose the three items for the Great Dine Out?
LISA POOLE: We are featuring our fried chicken sandwich and our two alternates are Scottie's Favorite Hottie burger [a half pound of locally sourced brisket blend, with grilled onions, jalapeños, lettuce, tomato, pepper Jack cheese, and peppered bacon] and our fresh strawberry chicken salad. Back in December, when Chick-fil-A had opened and people were waiting in long lines of traffic to try their food, our GM (Trevor Poole) at our north location decided to promote our fried chicken sandwich on Instagram and Facebook. When we opened for service inside our tent, we actually called it the "Better Than Chick-fil-A" Fried Chicken Sandwich! It has been selling like crazy since then, so we thought it would be great to promote it in your Great Dine Out issue!
Every restaurant has handled shutdowns, restricted dining and mask mandates differently. What was your plan last year, and how did it evolve?
We didn't have a choice other than to follow the governor's mandates. We didn't want to risk losing our liquor license, and at the same time we wanted to provide the safest environment possible for our customers. We were fortunate to have the PPP loan and also received a couple of the community grants, which allowed us to keep the majority of our staff employed.
Any upside or good news from this past year?
It did force us to re-evaluate our business model and introduce online ordering and delivery services, which we didn't have before COVID. It was a very difficult time for our employees; several weren't able to receive unemployment benefits initially. For some, it took months. We were able to come together and help some of those employees by providing Christmas gifts for their kids.
How have your customers responded throughout this past year?
We realized how fortunate we are to have such loyal and supportive customers.
