Photography by Jose Mendez.
Red Dirt Revival Truck
Red Dirt Revival will see a sister food truck, Revival Meat & 3, in less than two months.
Earlier this year, Red Dirt Revival chefs and co-owners Chloe Yates and Ben McArthur were considering opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant. Then, as COVID-19 began to impact the region, they decided on another route.
Photography courtesy of Red Dirt Revival.
Nashville Hot
Nashville Hot, a popular chicken sandwich from Red Dirt Revival
“We took about a week and freaked out like everyone else, and then I said to Ben that we had to figure out a way forward and we just had to keep moving,” says Yates. “I always tell people food is a relationship, and this is a perfect time to offer comfort through meals.”
Yates and McArthur began offering delivery and put more emphasis on catering. “Last winter, I did cookie boxes and pies and a little bit of holiday catering to try to keep the business bills paid, and I quickly realized this was something we could really grow if I figured out how,” Yates says. “So, when this [pandemic] hit, it was kind of the perfect storm to really work on building up our catering business and to be able to offer home delivery.”
With their business doing well, Yates and McArthur also decided to launch a new food truck concept: Revival Meat & 3, which Yates says “seemed like the next best thing” to a brick-and-mortar location. While the second food truck will have a new name and menu, they'll continue to serve up scratch-made Southern food, including fried chicken, corn casserole, po' boys, mac n’ cheese, and fried catfish. “We're really bringing back the idea of a Sunday supper and what you would walk into Grandma’s house and have for dinner,” Yates says.
Photography courtesy of Red Dirt Revival.
Red Dirt Revival Pie
Red Dirt Revivals bourbon caramel apple is guaranteed to top off the perfect home-cooked BBQ.
Yates says she's long dreamed of putting her own spin on the concept of a meat-and-three format, in which patrons pick one protein and three sides for a set price.“I was a big country music fan growing up, and I met Martina McBride in a meat and three [restaurant]; that was the most exciting moment of my life at that point,” Yates says. “I remember sitting there, and I said, ‘I'm going to open a meat and three one day.'”
Beginning on Labor Day weekend, Yates’s long-term dream will be realized. “We are just insanely grateful to have the opportunity to grow and expand our business, despite the many roadblocks we’ve all encountered,” Yates says.
And what else might be on the near horizon? “We’d like to round out our business with four trucks total, each one being a varied concept of fresh-made Southern food," says Yates. "We have a few dessert trucks on the horizon, and we are working on getting a liquor license to do a small truck that does alcohol."
They also still hope to one day open a brick-and-mortar restaurant, which Yates describes as "a little more refined and a smaller place where Ben and I can really show off what we love to do.”
