Today we’d like to introduce you to Jim Morpeth.
Jim, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
We started at 3137 Mercury Dr. in Columbus on March 17, 1975. I actually got the idea for Country’s living in Atlanta and working for Lithonia Lighting as a systems analyst in the 60s. We realized Columbus had lots of great barbecue but not a lot of great places to eat it and not complete full-service restaurants.
We started with a loan of $17,000 and lots of help from friends. The incredible folks that have and do work with us have taken us to where we are today. We have three restaurants in Columbus and serve around 20,000 guests per week.
We pride ourselves in cooking from scratch and not using anything to cook the cue except hickory, oak and love. Many folks nowadays use gas or other auxiliary heat – we just use wood to honor the tradition of barbecue.
Our menu is varied and as much as possible we source our veggies from local farmers. All during the summer we feature fresh peach cobbler, blueberry pie and strawberry shortcake with all fruits coming from Backyard Orchards — a farm near us. When in season we have local peas, eggplant and corn to name a few — goes great with barbecue. The fresh cream corn is so popular we hand cut around 4000 ears a week.
Barbecue items include Boston butts, brisket, eye of round, chicken, turkey and pork tenderloin – not to mention various specials. Brunswick stew take two days to make from scratch.
I founded Country’s and it is now owned by me, Scott Ressmeyer, Grif Morpeth and Cash Morpeth — all are active in the business. We did sell a few franchises some years ago but decided we enjoy running local restaurants more. Country’s is a good community citizen and involved in many fund-raising activities operating several races during the year for charity.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Never a smooth road. We’ve endured two fires — one that was arson and one our fault. Like a lot of restaurants, we’ve suffered through varies thefts and other calamities! But that being said it’s a great way to spend your life. You have the opportunity to touch and make better the lives of lots of folks each day.
Please tell us about Country’s Barbecue.
As mentioned previously we specialize in barbecue and southern cooking. We are known for our 100% wood cooked barbecue and the ability to cater almost any event.
I’m most proud of the honest, good food we serve, what we do in the community and the incredible folks working with us. Not many restaurants cook from scratch and pay the attention to great food for a low price point that we do. We don’t make much money but we do make lots of friends and do a great job at being a part of Columbus.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Actually my favorite memory from childhood would be operating a paper route – guess I was destined to have my own business. I started work at 11, I’m 74 now and still going.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.Countrysbarbecue.com
- Phone: Mercury 7065637604
Broad 7065968910
North 7066601415 - Email: jim@countrysbarbecue.com
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