Mel’s Country Café Mel’s Country Café is located on the Northwest side of Houston, Texas. It has been a quaint family business since 1977. Although Mel’s has changed names on three occasions in that time, the owners stay true to their roots: homemade food, low prices, and happy customers. (Mel 's Country Cafe , 2015) Mel’s specializes in down home, “feel good” food like Mama used to make, such as burgers, fried catfish, and chicken fried steak.
The best selling burger that they have is simply called “The Mel Burger” and it features a full pound of beef, one half pound of bacon, and three slices of cheese. It was voted “best burger in town” by Texas Monthly in 2009. Maybe it is just Mel’s roots, or maybe it is just that “bigger and better” Texas attitude, but the small family café had to create a challenge burger. The challenge is to consume “The Mega Mel Burger” in less than two hours without getting sick. The Mega Mel is made of 24 ounces of ground beef, a full pound of bacon, one-quarter pound of cheese, and all of the trimmings. On order to get your name on the wall, you must be able to walk and talk without getting sick after completing the challenge. This challenge has created quite a stir of excitement around the café, and attracts new customers quite often.
Mel’s business model is very simple and straightforward: keep things simple and keep people happy. They are offering a niche in the restaurant industry that is very desireable in today’s culture of chain restaurants and fast food. Mel’s Country Café invites you to slow down, take a deep breath, inhale the aroma of home cooked food, and remember “the good ol’ days” while enjoying a hot plate of food that is made from a long line of traditional country family table meals. You can almost hear Ma ringing the dinner bell when you walk in the door. The café keeps customers coming back
Bibliography: Barringer, B. R. (2012). Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launcing New Ventures, 4e. Pearson Education, Inc. Mel 's Country Cafe . (2015). Main Page. Retrieved March 23, 2015, from Mel 's Country Cafe : http://melscountrycafe.com/