MOBILE, Alabama - As they say, everything old is new again, with Ossie's Bar-B-Que and Hamburgers as the latest example.
The Government Boulevard cruising spot of the '60s that later housed a chain fast-food joint is back to being Ossie's, with the doors scheduled to open today.
K.A. Turner writes a weekly column. You may write her at the Press-Register, P.O. Box 2488, Mobile AL 36652-2488, call her at 251-219-5644 or e-mail kturner@press-register.com. Follow her on Facebook."In the tough economy that we've got, a lot of people are nostalgic for things back in the good times," explained Chip Deupree, who is reopening the business with his father-in-law, Rudy Boutwell.
It was Boutwell's dad -- he went by Ossie -- who opened the shop in 1955, gaining local fame with a vinegar-based barbecue sauce that the family says has been closely copied, but never replicated.
"The sauce is really, really, really good stuff," Deupree said last week. "There's been many times in the past that someone wrote (the recipe) into the paper or published it in a book. It's been close, but not quite there."
Deupree, for his part, has the handwritten, original recipe. The sauce will be served on sandwiches and drizzled on barbecue plates, but Deupree said it's best served on the side.
"It goes good with just about everything," he said. "I like it on my potato salad."
That would be the potato salad, made according to his mom's recipe, that is one of the few changed offerings planned at the new Ossie's.
"We'll have the original Chic-loin sandwich; hamburgers and hot dogs that you can add chili and cheese too," he rattled off the menu. There's hand-cut, hand-battered onion rings, just like they used to make. You get a cherry in your lemonade, just like you used to."
Nostalgia as part of a business plan is popular these days, according to Mickey Gee, a retailer, marketing professor and executive in residence at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's business school.
"We've gone through a pretty good period of time on this retro feel for business," said Gee, who calls himself maybe the first baby-boomer born.
"We remember manual typewriters and walk-in barbecue places," he said. "We remember that type of thing and we appreciate that; we like that; there's comfort in something that you know and can identify with."
The trick, Gee said, is to take what's good about the old, but to repackage it, or market in different ways, or find new ways to use a familiar product.
"You've got to constantly reinvent yourself; there's nothing wrong with putting that old sauce in a new package or a new label," he said. "That's not saying you change the way you do business, but you do have to come out with something that's a significantly different approach.
"I find that about every 10 years, a business has to reinvent itself," he said, "and that's not a long timeframe."
Gee can also identify with the folks reopening Ossie's because he has run a family business, succeeding his father in that role. He remains chairman of The Pants Store, which his sons now run.
Ossie's will re-open as a third-generation family joint. Gee said that such firms must be aware of family dynamics that can get in the way of success.
"I have seen a lot of family businesses come apart in the second and third generations," he said. "It is usually not the family members in the business that are having the problems. It's that external element out there (spouses and relatives not in the business) who are second-guessing things and don't know.
"People involved in the business have to be very transparent and they have to draw some lines," he continued. As for the other relatives? "They need to avoid Monday-morning quarterbacking."
Deupree, a former fishing guide, said last week that he and his father-in-law have already had the kind of up-front conversations required.
When Boutwell asked about Deupree's level of commitment to the new restaurant, Deupree said he'd sold his boat, his rods and reels, even his lifejacket and was ready to be married to a venture they've invested between $100,000 and $200,000 to make ready.
"That's exactly what I wanted to hear," Deupree recalled his father-in-law's reply.
Both are excited about the community reaction to the rebirth of Ossie's.
"We've had 15 cars a day pulling into the parking lot telling us stories," Deupree said. "Tell you the truth, I hope we're a little bit overwhelmed that first week. Then the trick will be making it good enough to keep them coming in after they've visited the first time -- keep them coming back like they did in the '60s, '70s and '80s."