People across the South publicly and creatively show their love for a company that's remarkably private. Is it possible to get to know a fast food chain that doesn't want to talk about itself?
My favorite thing about CookOut (other than the food of course) is that every article written about it eventually turns into a “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold”-esque story about how it’s impossible to write a story about CookOut
I should have noted, this was probably the first genuinely informative article I've read on the milkshake mecca and I appreciate you not making their reticence the point of the piece. I've read more than one article about CookOut that devolved into a play-by-play of what the author did to try to get info, and you get 500 words that can be summed as "oh boy these guys are hard to reach!"
I eat wayyyyy too often at a location here in Nashville, Tennessee (looking at my bank statements I've spent over $6,500 at CookOut over the last 3 years 🫣). Anyway, at this point I've developed a bit of a friendship with the staff at my local CookOut and am friendly with the general manager. She recently pointed out to me a couple of other small quirks/personal decisions made by the owners I hadn't noticed before:
1) They sell Fanta (orange soda) but only without carbonation, at the explicit insistence of the owner. I guess they're going for something similar to the McDonald's "orange drink."
2) They recently stopped serving soft drink/soda products in the XL-size cup. If you order a "large Cheerwine" or "extra large Cheerwine" they used to give you the jumbo cup but will no longer do this (you can however still get iced tea in this size). I made the assumption this was a cost-cutting measure as the price of everything is always going up it seems and asked the manager if this was the case and she informed me not at all but that it was an explicit request from the owner, a health-conscious choice, wanting people to consume a little less sugar.
I avoided CookOut like the plague the first couple of years it was open here solely because the strange hodgepodge of exterior building materials and styles was mixed together in a very clashing and jarring way (it's like someone got a discount on leftover building supplies from a masonry supply store and just threw it all together) and then the inside feels like you're in a small-town mountain lodge out west somewhere, lol.
a cheddar style deluxe with a cheeseburger quesadilla and fries with cookout sauce is the only food I still truly miss very much ever since going vegetarian 🥺
My sister and her best friend were traveling from C'ville to Wilmington to visit me years ago, The drive took them twice as long because they decided to stop by a Cook Out each time they finished their peach milkshake to get another!
Even the original location in southern Greensboro is pretty nondescript: It looks just like all the others and doesn’t even mention being the original. Only thing I could find that was different when I went 8 or 9 years ago was that they had a few parking spaces reserved for customers parking and eating.
My husband and I stop at the Cook Out in Statesville NC on our way back home from Black Mountain. We noticed a Galatians quote on our favorite milkshake from there saying something to the effect: God bless the US. We thought it odd and got curious about the ownership. Is Morris Reaves the founder and father to the current CEO who is a Washington Commander player? A search on the internet seems to think so. I found it interesting if this is the case and the Spartans of the story about the jerseys being such hot items. I bet there are some interesting stories here if delving deeper.
Another underrated thing about CookOut is that if you search the NC Secretary of State database for CookOut, you find that every single CookOut location is registered as its own corporation. Just search "CookOut": https://www.sosnc.gov/online_services/search/by_title/_Business_Registration, you'll find 168 results, almost every single one "CookOut-[location], Inc."
So I guess the little icons on the bottom f the billboards (the horse, race car, and palmetto tree) are related to the additional family hobbies and interests you mentioned? I emailed them a while back and all I got was a “it’s something the owner likes to do.”
They need to expand the DC area, instead of just locating in the DMV exurbs
My favorite thing about CookOut (other than the food of course) is that every article written about it eventually turns into a “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold”-esque story about how it’s impossible to write a story about CookOut
Yeah pretty much.
I should have noted, this was probably the first genuinely informative article I've read on the milkshake mecca and I appreciate you not making their reticence the point of the piece. I've read more than one article about CookOut that devolved into a play-by-play of what the author did to try to get info, and you get 500 words that can be summed as "oh boy these guys are hard to reach!"
I eat wayyyyy too often at a location here in Nashville, Tennessee (looking at my bank statements I've spent over $6,500 at CookOut over the last 3 years 🫣). Anyway, at this point I've developed a bit of a friendship with the staff at my local CookOut and am friendly with the general manager. She recently pointed out to me a couple of other small quirks/personal decisions made by the owners I hadn't noticed before:
1) They sell Fanta (orange soda) but only without carbonation, at the explicit insistence of the owner. I guess they're going for something similar to the McDonald's "orange drink."
2) They recently stopped serving soft drink/soda products in the XL-size cup. If you order a "large Cheerwine" or "extra large Cheerwine" they used to give you the jumbo cup but will no longer do this (you can however still get iced tea in this size). I made the assumption this was a cost-cutting measure as the price of everything is always going up it seems and asked the manager if this was the case and she informed me not at all but that it was an explicit request from the owner, a health-conscious choice, wanting people to consume a little less sugar.
I avoided CookOut like the plague the first couple of years it was open here solely because the strange hodgepodge of exterior building materials and styles was mixed together in a very clashing and jarring way (it's like someone got a discount on leftover building supplies from a masonry supply store and just threw it all together) and then the inside feels like you're in a small-town mountain lodge out west somewhere, lol.
Both of these are amazing personal details that Cook Out will never, ever confirm.
a cheddar style deluxe with a cheeseburger quesadilla and fries with cookout sauce is the only food I still truly miss very much ever since going vegetarian 🥺
Just like everything else Cook Out, if we will ever get one on the Outer Banks remains a mystery:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/cook-out-takes-105230437
You already have a Wawa, what else do you want
I noticed the other day that their website lists a future location in KDH but didn’t know there was such a saga behind it!
My sister and her best friend were traveling from C'ville to Wilmington to visit me years ago, The drive took them twice as long because they decided to stop by a Cook Out each time they finished their peach milkshake to get another!
Even the original location in southern Greensboro is pretty nondescript: It looks just like all the others and doesn’t even mention being the original. Only thing I could find that was different when I went 8 or 9 years ago was that they had a few parking spaces reserved for customers parking and eating.
I stopped there once on the way back from Gillespie Golf Course and had no idea it was the original until I saw the receipt.
My husband and I stop at the Cook Out in Statesville NC on our way back home from Black Mountain. We noticed a Galatians quote on our favorite milkshake from there saying something to the effect: God bless the US. We thought it odd and got curious about the ownership. Is Morris Reaves the founder and father to the current CEO who is a Washington Commander player? A search on the internet seems to think so. I found it interesting if this is the case and the Spartans of the story about the jerseys being such hot items. I bet there are some interesting stories here if delving deeper.
I checked. The footballing Jeremy Reaves isn’t the son of the Cook Outing Morris Reaves, whose grandkids are race car drivers
Another underrated thing about CookOut is that if you search the NC Secretary of State database for CookOut, you find that every single CookOut location is registered as its own corporation. Just search "CookOut": https://www.sosnc.gov/online_services/search/by_title/_Business_Registration, you'll find 168 results, almost every single one "CookOut-[location], Inc."
So I guess the little icons on the bottom f the billboards (the horse, race car, and palmetto tree) are related to the additional family hobbies and interests you mentioned? I emailed them a while back and all I got was a “it’s something the owner likes to do.”