"The regular?" the young lady at the counter asks.
That's a common question at the Blackhawk Grill, whose owners Joe and Tina Bangs have been feeding Pea Ridge area residents for nearly 20 years. It's also not unusual to overhear patrons warmly greeting each other by name and stopping to take a few minutes out of their day to catch up with one another.
"She's fed me for many a year," Rick Whitaker said. "We're going to miss them."
When he arrived for his breakfast Monday morning, he received a Christmas card (as did other regular customers) that thanked him for his loyal patronage and announced that the grill was closing Wednesday, Dec. 23.
"I like going in there because all I had to do was say 'feed me.' She knew what I wanted and how I wanted it," Whitaker said, explaining that he has eaten both breakfast and lunch there twice a day six days a week since the restaurant opened.
"It was a clean place that we could go and get good food; she's always friendly, nice," Whitaker said.
As the noon hour approached on Monday, regulars began to fill the booths along the west side of the building. Talk of what would happen in the location next dominated the conversation.
"I sure hope someone buys this building and does something good with it," said one of the men drinking coffee in the corner.
In addition to hamburgers and cheeseburgers and "extreme fries," there was the daily special.
In 1997, the Bangs began selling hamburgers from a trailer in front of a clothing resale shop run by Tina. By 2001, the building which housed the consignment store was renovated into the Blackhawk Grill.
The family business has employeed the Bangs children -- Ashley, Josh and Kayla -- over the years, as well as other relatives.
"We are a family business -- it's very demanding... We have all the business we want," Joe said in 2006.
Both Joe and Tina worked for Wal-Mart for a time, then Tina ran a family daycare for a while. Joe also worked four days a week, and together they ran the concession stand and resale shop on weekends. Their eldest daughter, while only 9, worked the cash register and prepared drinks in the concession stand. Tina grew up in Rogers and Pea Ridge. Joe grew up in Batesville.
Without fanfare garnering attention for themselves, the Bangs often offered free milkshakes to Pea Ridge high school athletes before the games. The walls are adorned with Blackhawks memorabilia including an autographed football and various athletes' jerseys.
Since the grill's debut, the collection on the walls of the establishment has grown exponentially. In the eastern corner sits a Coca-Cola filled with trophies from various championships the Blackhawks have won.
Business on 12/23/2015