Simple Suppers

Richard McGinnis laughed when asked how celebrating the 25th anniversary of his business made him feel.

"Old," he joked. "But, it makes me feel great that we've been going this long and we're going to keep it going for a while."

Last week Richard celebrated 25 years of providing quality meats, meals and customer service at Richard's Country Meat Market in Fayetteville.

Richard thinks his secret to success is simple. He doesn't pay anyone to do the work that he can himself, and it's his commitment to quality products and customer service.

While Richard's has been around more than a quarter of a century, one of his successful ventures is relatively new. About a year and half ago he and his crew started preparing "Simple Suppers."

"Simple Suppers are doing great," he said. "There are three different meals every week. We advertise them on Facebook. Customers can come in, pick them up, take home and microwave them. They are fully cooked, frozen in take home microwavable containers. When you are busy, it's a great meal for $5."

On the menu

The variety of Simple Suppers on Richard's take home menu is wide.

"We have a chicken strips with mac and cheese," he said. "We have beef brisket with roasted potato and baked beans. We have an enchilada dinner with beans and rice; spaghetti and meatballs with green beans. We have lasagna with green beans and we have a pork chop with rice and broccoli. They all are fully cooked and package in individual servings."

Richard said to follow them on Facebook to find out what Simple Suppers are being featured each week. But, he pointed out, if you want a meal that has recently been featured, don't hesitate to ask. They might have some frozen away.

"It's convenient," he explained. "It's real good food, too. I had someone tell me that you can't make food in a restaurant that tastes like you can get at home. When we put the kitchen in I told (my son) Chris that we are not going to do it if we can't make it taste like homemade. I think we've done a pretty good job at that."

Family tradition

Richard comes by his love the business honestly. Richard and Chris split up kitchen duties with other staff members. Richard is responsible for the entrée recipes and Chris handles the breads and desserts. In addition to Richard's staff of meat cutters, a fishmonger and deli workers and cashiers, he also employees a cook to keep the kitchen going.

"Chris and I work in the kitchen with Tracy," he said. "She bakes our bread and does most of our cooking. Tracy is very good."

Richard said that he learned how to cook from his mother and he is now passing some of his culinary skills to his son. He is also passing on his commitment to quality products and customer service. It doesn't matter to Richard if you are picking up a $5 Simple Supper to take home, or if you are buying $100 worth of hand cut steaks, you are going to get the same high quality customer service.

"That's one of the ways we built our business," he said. "When young people come in and don't know how to cook something, we can tell them how. They know it doesn't bother us to help. We've built the business on that."

Richard's Country Meat Market

3042 North market Ave.

Fayetteville, AR.

Open Mon -- Sat 9AM -- 6PM

Closed Sunday

Online: richardscountrymeatmarket.com

Get social: Facebook.com/RichardsCountryMeatMarket

About Richard's Country Meat Market

Richard's Country Meat Market, Inc., was built in the mid-1980's and originally called Country Time Meat Shoppe. Richard McGinnis became part owner in 1993. In 1997, Country Time became a family-owned business and took a new name: Richard's Country Meat Market.