Meet Louis Squires | Founder of the Magnolia Room

We had the good fortune of connecting with Louis Squires and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Louis, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
It frankly, was not a lot of thought process. It was a bit of an emotional decision on my part, to try to rescue that group of employees who had come to know very well through the years while dining at the S & S Cafeteria and were about to lose their livelihood with it’s closure in 2016. It also meant a lot to me, because I feel like this traditional Southern food is enjoyed so much by the senior community and is so important to them and that they don’t have a lot of dining options. So you Yeah, it was was a bit impulsive. And luckily, has had a very happy ending.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Certainly, for me, having never been in the restaurant business before and making this attempt to rescue an old southern cafeteria. I got in over my head pretty quickly during the beginning, but I think now we can look back, and we can have such pride in what we have achieved. The thing that’s exciting in terms of the food is that we have increased the quality. We’ve made partnerships with our local produce company Sherry’s produce, to serve fresh vegetables daily. We’ve cut no corners, and we’ve provided a livelihood for 36 employees at the moment. This makes it all worthwhile. But certainly when it comes to the restaurant business, and the preparation of traditional old school, Southern foods, there are no shortcuts. There is no easy way. It’s something that’s not for the faint hearted. But again, hats off to all of my people in the kitchen, on the line in the dining room, who’ve gotten us to where we are and frankly, we are getting at Make a very broad recognition in the city of Atlanta for the food that we offer, and the friendly and incredible service that we deliver on a daily basis.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Well, it’s clearly my people that deserve the credit and the recognition. That’s, that’s why I did this. Because they all work so hard, and had been so loyal. We saved 24 jobs. And the vast majority of those people, now seven years later are still with us. It also means so much to our customers, who have also been so supportive and grateful. So certainly, that would be a second group that I would want to give a recognition to. In many ways, we are all one big extended family, bound together by the love, and the memories of traditional Southern cuisine.

Website: https://magnoliaroomcafeteria.com/

Instagram: instagram.com/magnoliaroomcafeteria

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MagnoliaRoomCafeteria

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/magnolia-room-tucker-tucker