We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emily & Kevin Purcell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emily & Kevin below.

Emily & Kevin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

The restaurant was fully functional when we purchased it, so we were able to bring in our own ideas to further grow it. These ranged from fun stuff like cocktails and menu items to more serious issues like prioritizing our employees’ mental health and making the restaurant a go-to spot yet again. Our first step for the menu was to introduce seasonal menu items; seeing their popularity grow over several months, we’re now able to bring fan favorites annually and generate buzz. For our cocktail program, we recently added a slushie machine, something not generally found in this area. Testing what works and what doesn’t has allowed us to get creative, and the customer feedback on these “Freeman’s Freezies” has been extremely positive as we get the recipes honed in. As for our employees’ well being, we took on the restaurant with the idea that it can be a positive work environment for everyone and doesn’t have to reflect stereotypes of this industry portrayed in the media. Of course it can be stressful, but we strive to make sure we’re always present for all our staff, and the culture we’ve cultivated with that idea has resulted in a team atmosphere unlike any restaurant we’ve worked in previously.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

We’re the owners of Freeman’s Grub & Pub, a restaurant in Greensboro, NC. Our restaurant serves up smoked meats, delicious sandwiches, and some of our favorite infused liquor cocktails around. We’ve both worked in various positions in the industry over the last couple decades and had an opportunity to purchase this business early last year. We’ve seen many awards since transferring ownership, the biggest of which was being named to Yelp’s annual Top 100 Places to Eat list earlier this year. We and our staff are extremely proud of these accomplishments, and we work every day to keep the atmosphere lively and exceed customer expectations all while focusing on our mental health and our employees’ mental health, because ultimately that’s more important than the business itself. While we enjoy making the food and booze we serve, we love seeing and hearing the customers reactions to new things popping up on our menu weekly! When it comes to being proud of something, the biggest thing we’re proud of is our staff. The love they put into their work and this business do not go unnoticed, and we are forever grateful for their hard work, dedication, and love for this place.

Have you ever had to pivot?

During the pandemic, like most of us in the restaurant industry, we were mentally drained. We were thankful to have a job and still be able to work, but at a certain point we knew we needed to take a break for ourselves. We put in our 90 day notice at both of the restaurants we managed and decided to travel the country living and camping out of our car. During the 4 months we were on the road we explored all of the lower 48, visited countless family members, friends, breweries, national parks, and more. Once we ran out of our life savings, we re-settled in Seattle living on a boat with our best friend. We knew right away the weather and us would not get along for too long in Seattle, and as we started to think of our next step, the previous owners of Freeman’s contacted us with an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. We accepted the offer, came back for Christmas, took over in January, and then purchased the business in March of 2022. We don’t think we would be where we are, or who we are, without that trip. It changed our lives. It changed our mental health. And it was the trip of a lifetime. We brought back ideas for food and booze we had tasted through our travels… without even knowing that knowledge would be worth so much more. The moral of the story is DO IT. Do what your life requires for you, and your body, soul, and mind will be forever thankful.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Fortunately for us, our cofounder/business partner is also our life partner. We met at Jake’s Billiards around 2:30 in the morning and from that night on, we were inseparable. After a little over a year of dating, we decided we wanted to tie the knot. We hopped on a plane to Vegas with our pool team, immediate family members, Jessie & Josh, and got married at The Little White Wedding Chapel. During that same year, Jessie & Josh purchased 1820 Spring Garden Street and soon opened Freeman’s Grub & Pub with us by their side. 8 years later, we are now the proud owners of Freeman’s!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freemansgrubandpub/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/freemansgrubandpub
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/freemans-grub-and-pub-greensboro

Image Credits
First photo: Daniel White