Lucedale’s restaurant community is growing and with that the array of food choices. 

    “… it gives our little town a little more variety, and I feel like that’s something we haven’t had in a while,” sophomore Abbie Evans said. 

   Lucedale is the 13th fastest growing city in the state of Mississippi. Along with the growth in the population, the city leaders wanted to expand the city’s food choices.

   The restaurants are not only good for eating, but they also help the city’s economy. 

   “The backbone of the city of Lucedale is sales tax,” Lucedale Mayor Doug Lee said.

   Several individuals decided to add more diversity in food choices, resulting in five new restaurants opening.

   Students are eager to try the new pizza place, House of Pizza. This restaurant is coming from Semmes, Alabama. 

   “I am looking forward to Lucedale House of Pizza coming because I’ve heard very good things about other House of Pizzas,” junior William Rasberry said.

   On Main Street specifically restaurants have helped attendance of the boutiques nearby. 

   “They feed off each other… they’ll shop and then get something to eat,” Lee said. 

   It is not only within city limits that people are deciding to open restaurants. In Agricola, two brothers Caleb and Bron Howell have recently opened a new barbeque restaurant called Chik-N- Pig. 

   According to Caleb Howell, the market in Agricola was going untouched. Due to this, there was a void in the market that he saw and took advantage of.

   Chik-N-Pig’s attendance is not just the locals, but people from Hurley and West Mobile as well.

   As of now the Howell brothers only have one location, but they are eager to expand later. 

   “Our dream is to have two or three locations potentially, but right now we’re happy right here,” Howell said.

   Students have their own ideas of what they would want in their own restaurants.

   “I would probably open a steak house if I was building in Lucedale because we don’t have one of those,” Rasberry said.

   Howell’s advice for opening a restaurant is to pray about it first, be unique and know what is going on the menu. 

   New additions to Lucedale’s restaurant community help economically and add variety.