Mrs. Betty Marshall of The Bear's Den
Meredith Wood: Ok. I’m Meredith Wood, and what’s your name?
Betty Marshall: I’m Betty Marshall.
MW: Betty Marshall. And today is March 5th, 2009. Um, and we are at The Bear’s Den. So, um, how did you get things started in the restaurant business?
BM: Uh, I just bought a piece of run-down property. Always wanted to be in the restaurant business. Thought it would be fun. I love to cook, and it was just going to be a take-out shop. That’s all it was going to be was just a little, small building, and, uh, we had to come in and remodel it, and, um, my husband, he’s the one who thought of The Bear’s Den cause he says, you know, you got the Mercer Bears, you need to call it The Bear’s Den.
So we did, and we had sandwiches on one side, of the little building, and the hot food on the other. Well, sandwiches just didn’t sell, you know, hot food sold, so then we decided to take out the sandwich and make it bigger. Just hot food only and which it was. And then everybody wanted to sit, so we had to figure out where to sit people cause it wasn’t feasible just to do take-out, you know, and it was just so small, and you gonna do something, you might as well get a little bigger, you know? So we did. We built the dining room, and, um, that was the first year. And then the second year, we added a deck on the front. And then, about five years later, we closed in the deck. And we added a little take-out shop which was the best thing we ever did cause we had take-out and eat-in both coming over here. And you probably don’t remember that, but there’d be a line all the way down--[laughing] cause there was so many trying to get in and take out, too. So, anyway, that accomplished about ten years ago.
And, um, I been real still ever since then. I can just stay in here. That’s--I been here for twenty years now. I got the building over here I been wanting to re-do and make the--put the take-out shop over there so that we can make all this eat-in. I’m not doing anymore right now, with the economy like it is. I decided to wait on that, so we’ll see.
MW: Alright, um, where do your recipes or your inspirations for the recipes come from?
BM: Aw, heck, just whatever, you know? I mean, you live in the South. You know that’s what everybody wants is fried chicken and green beans and mac-n-cheese. So my cook was real good at that, and when I had--I had--actually, I had a different cook back then when I first opened, and she was real good. And then, um, Ms. Maxine is the cook now. She came on about--I been here about three years when she came on, and she’s been here ever since, and she’s the best. She makes macaroni and cheese and green beans, and it’s all tasty. She--and she does everything from her head. I mean, there’s no recipes. She knows what she does. And--cause I make most of the desserts, and I know what I do, I mean. [Laughter] Did you taste my chocolate pie? I did that from scratch. I dreamed that one up. It’s good. [Laughter] You’ll have to eat some. [Laughter]
David Loos: Well, I’m definitely coming back here, so--[laughter]. [3:17]
BM: Everybody wants to know why we don’t make a cookbook, and I say, well, we really don’t know, you know? Just--you just cook it and taste it and see if it’s just right.
MW: What would you consider your signature dish?
BM: Fried chicken. Green beans. Mac-n-cheese. Those three. We
have ‘em every day. And we didn’t do chicken fingers from the beginning like we do now. We only did ‘em, like, on Fridays cause that’s when most of the Mercer students come in. But then they started coming in more during the week, so we had chicken fingers every day, too, now. Because--[Laughter].
Drayton Perkins: Good call. Good call. [Laughter].
BM: --that’s what the Mercer students eat here.
MW: We appreciate that. Um, what do you--what would you say distinguishes this restaurant from other restaurants in Macon?
Eleta Andrews: Other southern…
MW: Yeah, other southern restaurants in Macon.
BM: Um, the food is better. It’s seasoned well. Um, I think it’s, uh, just the combination of people I have, too. I have, from the working people all the way up to the attorneys and doctors and people like that. I mean, you get a wide--wide variety, plus your students that come in here. You know, it’s really kind of convenient to all of ‘em cause you got the medical center and all the offices around, and you got school. So it’s just a combination of people. I mean, when I came here and said I was gonna do this, nobody, nobody thought I had good sense. Not the first person told me, ‘That’s a good idea.’ [Laughter].
MW: Everyone sure has enjoyed it since then.
BM: You know, it’s just amazing that, you know, because I’m--I’ve got more sense now than I did then, I assure you. I don’t know that I’d do it again. [Laughter]. When somebody--I mean people tell you not to do something then, you know, you need to listen, but it worked good for me because I was from the neighborhood. I had worked the store for fifteen years down in the bottom, and I knew a lot of people, and I knew what was here. And that’s another reason I did it because I knew the area, and more than they did. And one of them was saying, ‘Don’t do this.” You know? “You don’t want to do this.” And then I had the grocery store. ‘Cause, for a couple of years, I did not make any money. I’d just stay in here and cry, and I did everything I could. I pulled everything from the grocery store that I needed to make this work. And soon as this got on its feet after about the third year, I closed--I sold the grocery store. So, that’s how I got started out. I wouldn’t advise anybody to go into business if they don’t have some capital or some--some where to pull from for at least two years until they get on their feet. But that’s--that’s where I think most people make their mistake. You know, it took a lot of hard work. I assure you. It took a lotta hours. But determination--I guess cause all those people told me not to do it that I had to make it work. So, that’s about all, you know? And I been here since then, but I wouldn’t--you know? I’d kinda like to sell it, I think. [Laughter].
MW: Oh, no! [Laughter].
BM: Oh, yeah! But I wanna work for ‘em. I just don’t wanna own it. I don’t wanna own it. I don’t wanna work twelve people. I don’t wanna be responsible for all the things I’m responsible for. I’d love to just come in here, and I’d bake the cakes and bake the sweets and bring ‘em in and go home. [Laughter].
MW: So what would you say a typical day is like? Could you describe a typical day here?
BM: Like today? Oh, Lord. I mean, a typical is, uh, it’s pretty, really, good. [7:12] Um, unless people start, you know, laying out on me. One of ‘em gets sick, or my head cook. She’s been in the hospital, and she’s sick, but she’s coming back to work Monday, and it’s been tough. Um, today we had--we do catering. So I--I had--you get in the big catering job, and you’re not expecting what you gonna get it, you know? And then you gotta send some people out there to do that, and then you short here ‘cause you can’t hire somebody just to hang around while you’re at the catering job. You know, you might get it, you might not. So, it makes it rough. Days like that. And today was one of those days I had a big catering job in Forsyth, my daughter hurt her back, she was making a delivery for me. Had to send another person with her. The girl in here had to go to a funeral. So, I mean, I was doin’ three people’s jobs. And I’m the one that has to do that. The owner has--they call me at three o’clock in the morning and say who’s not going to be here and what I need to do.
So, you know, it’s not the most [slight pause] as everybody thinks, um, profit-business there is. It’s too much overhead, your insurance, your taxes, I mean, everybody is on you. The health department is on you. This one’s on you. That--I mean, they got all these--some rules are good, and some are stupid. You know, I think they’s trying to make it hard on us, you know? And that’s--they shouldn’t do that, you know? It should help us, but they don’t.
I mean, I pay a lot of taxes, and, still, I have problems. With the city, you know, I’m in the historical area. That makes it bad. I don’t advise anybody to ever do business in the historical--ever. You’re not supposed to have a sign over so-many inches wide. You’re not supposed to paint your building a certain color, you know? You’re not supposed to do this--oh, yeah, you’re not supposed to do any of that stuff, you know. And I’m not good at following rules anyway. [Laughter]. When--when I had the grocery store, you know grocery store, yeah, yeah you know, we had Coca-Cola come out, and they would paint the whole side of the building, right? Well, when I wanted to paint and re-do the store, I said, ‘Well, Coca-Cola, this is the new [unintelligible phrase].’ Anyways, they came out, and they painted the side of my store. Coca-Cola, you know, it was a rich store. And the historical folks got me down there in court and said, ‘You can’t do that. That’s a sign.’ And I said that’s the way it was fifty years ago. I mean that’s what they did. Just look at these little towns, and you’ll see it sometimes with Dr. Pepper and Coca-Cola, you know? And they told me that I had to paint over it. Well, I didn’t. [Laughter]. And they never came out there and did anything about it. So, I told them if they wanted it painted over then they can paint over it themselves. [Laughter].
MW: What would you say the most rewarding part of restaurant ownership is?
BM: Knowing the people. Just, you know, um, meeting a lot of people. A lot of different people, and it’s--it’s been fun. You know, I know a lot. It’s fun, but sometimes it’s bad, but sometimes it’s fun.
MW: Um, you’ve touched on this some, but has the Mercer community played a big role in the business?
BM: Oh, yeah. Yes, they do. They’re probably, I don’t know, twenty-five percent of my business. And when they’re out for summer, it hurts me bad.
MW: I can imagine. This next week probably won’t be too good with Spring Break.
BM: Yeah, see, that’s gonna hurt.
MW: Alright, how would you describe your cuisine?
BM: Southern. [Laughter].
DP: Good call. [Laughter].
MW: Fair enough. [Laughter]. Well, what about the restaurant makes it Southern?
BM: What about it makes it Southern? Just, the food. I mean, you know, and mainly it’s the food that’s served. The people are Southern that I deal with, but I--I have people mingling in here. I have people all over, you know, during the Cherry Blossom, we had people from England come in, and they’re very nice, and I said how’d you find it cause they don’t help from downtown. They don’t really promote this place. They say I’m too far out of downtown. And, uh, they take buses to all the restaurants, you know, downtown to put ‘em out, but they don’t do that here, and, uh, they said, ‘Well, we was just riding around, and we saw you, so we came in.’ And it’s really kinda hard to find if you don’t know where it’s at, but they did. So I felt real good about that.
MW: How do you--do you feel responsible for that kind of people, um, letting them know that this is what southern food is like? Do you?
BM: Oh, yeah. I--we have a good time any time a Yankee comes in here. [Laughter.] We do up some collards and some turnips, and we really fix ‘em up.
DL: Well, that’s good. The pineapple casserole was wonderful.
BM: That’s not--that’s not real Southern, I mean--
DL: Well, I’ll be here next--I’ll be here next week, so I’ll be in here probably.
BM: Ok. Alright. Do y’all eat macaroni and cheese?
DL: Oh, of course. Yes. [Laughter.]
BM: To me that’s kind of southern. No, y’all eat more broccoli. [Laughter.] And what’s that little white stuff?
DP: Cauliflower?
BM: Yeah! [Laughter.] And asparagus. Oh, that stuff. I guess y’all eat asparagus?
DL: It’s delicious. [Laughter.]
BM: I actually had some asparagus, and it was good, but I had some one time, and it was awful, and I wouldn’t touch it after that. And then somebody fixed some that was good, and it was--it was good. It was tasty. But I guess I just got the wrong one to start with, and I guess you can do that with any food, you know, if you--not--hadn’t never eaten it, and then you eat some, and it’s terrible, you don’t want to go back and eat anymore. So, that it?
MW: A couple more. [Laughter.] [13:04] What does the future hold for The Bear’s Den?
BM: [Unintelligible phrase and laughter.] Um, well I’m hoping that--to fix this house over here and get the take-out over there, and then make this all eat-in, and put another bathroom on that side, so I can have two bathrooms, and I can have, uh, another drink machine over down on that side. If we could tear that wall out, then we’d have two drink machines and two bathrooms, and that would be great. And a parking lot. A parking lot is what I need more than anything else, and that’s what they gave me such a hard time about. The city.
MW: Um, what are the employees like? Have they been here for a long time, most of them?
BM: Most of ‘em been here--like I said, my head cook’s been here for fifteen years, and, um, most of ‘em been in here for ten to fifteen years.
MW: How many people are cooking at a time or, like, in the kitchen at a time?
BM: You just have three.
MW: Three?
BM: Well, four with the fryer cook. We have a fryer cook, and then we have two prep cooks, and the main cook, and that’s about it.
DP: Um, where are you from originally?
BM: Right here.
DP: Right here in Macon?
BM: Mmhmm.
DP: Ok. Um, what’s your favorite food to cook? I know you said you do a lot of--
BM: Oh, I do desserts.
DP: --green beans. You do the desserts?
BM: Mmhmm.
DP: What’s your favorite dessert? If you had to pick one, just one--
BM: Pecan pie. It’s easy. [Laughter.] And it’s good.
DP: Ok. I was about to ask if you had any familial ties to pecan pie, but I guess being easy draws you to it.
BM: It’s easy, and it’s--it’s good. And--and it’s southern. It’s real southern. To get [unintelligible phrase]. And banana pudding is--of course they fix that here. [Laughter.] You know, I don’t fix none, but I do the pecan pie, strawberry cake, and chocolate cake, the carrot cake, um, last night I did some chocolate pie which was a made-up recipe, and it turned out really good. [Laughter.]
Sometimes it don’t turn out so good, and I take it, and I make some cookies or somethin’ out of it. You know [Laughter.] you can do that. [Laughter.] You can call ‘em re-baked cookies. [Laughter followed by a momentary pause.] Is that it?
MW: I think so.
DL: Oh, wait. I actually have one question. Um, have you ever had someone famous come in here?
BM: Oh, yeah.
DL: Like any celebrities or anything?
BM: Oh, yeah. You remember, um, Jack Kemp that ran for Vice-President back when Bush--he came in. It’s on the wall over there.
DL: Oh, really?
BM: Uh huh. He came in here one day. It was the strangest thing. And, um, I was waiting on tables, a lot of times if no body’s here I have to do that, and this little guy was sittin’ right there at the corner of the table, and there was another guy in front of him, and I noticed he had on a suit, you know, and, like, we get a lot of that, that’s -- I [unintelligible phrase]. And he says--ok--and he said, um, ‘I’m with the FBI.’ Oh, gosh. [Laughter]. I was just like, ‘Ok.’ And, uh, he says, um, ‘Mr. Kemp’s gonna be coming into Macon. Gonna fly into Warner Robbins, and come into Macon next--next week, and, uh, we’d like to come here and eat.’ And I said, ‘Ok.’ [Laughter]. I mean, I’m really kinda stunned, you know, and he says, um, he said, ‘We wanted to come over and--and see about the place and make sure it’s okay. And of course at that time it was an open deck out there, and, um, so every day that week we had a couple of FBI agents come to the place and just hang around, you know, until he came the next week, you know, just to search--just--I guess watching and making sure everything was okay.
DL: Yeah.
BM: And then he came, and, um, of course the bad thing about it was that they wouldn’t let me tell anybody, and that was--I mean, they said, ‘You know, we don’t really want you to go out and advertise it or anything. We just want to let you know we’re gonna do it.’ And, um, I thought that was kinda--I wanted to advertise, you know, could have really got me a crowd. [Laughter.] But the best laugh we had so far was the next day after he was in here, they had it in the paper that he had been to The Bear’s Den. [Unintelligible phrase] and that next day, I mean, they flocked in here, oh, which is good is that he came. ‘Well I heard he came in.’ ‘Yeah he did! Yeah he did!’ [Laughter]. And then, this might not be a famous person to y’all, but used to
come eat here all the time was John Rocker. [Laughter.]
DP: He went to FPD, didn’t he?
BM: Yeah.
DP: Okay.
BM: He used to come in all the time. It was his favorite place, and he came in after he got famous, you know. And of course, me, I don’t like baseball that much and all. He was in a line out there with some of his buddies, and he says, um, ‘I’m John Rocker.’ Well somebody came up first before he said that. He said--they told me said, ‘That’s John Rocker, right there!’ I said, ‘Aw it ain’t. No it’s not. That’s not John Rocker.’ ‘Yeah it is!’ And I know it’s not, and I got over at the cash register, and I look down at him and say, ‘Are you John Rocker?’ And he said, ‘Yes I am.’ And I said, ‘Prove it.’ [Laughter.] He pulled out his [unintelligible phrase] and showed me he was John Rocker. I gave him his meal. [Laughter.] And--and I even got his picture made with him and my grandson. He came back several times after that. He--he said, ‘This is my favorite place.’ He’d eat here all the time. He said ‘fore he got famous, he’d just come and eat here all the time. He said, ‘I used to come in here all the time.’ I said, ‘Well, I know.’ He said [unintelligible phrase followed by laughter.] And I don’t notice them. I was trying to think of some more. I know those two. I don’t know who else. But, um, everybody’s always saying, ‘That’s so-and-so over there! You know them this is the lawyer’s son!’ And I’m going oh no, no. ‘That’s Dr. So-and-so.’ And I’m goin ‘I don’t know him’. You know, most of the time they don’t want to be bothered. They want-- you know, they don’t like for you to point them out. So I don’t like to say anything.