Business Spotlight: The Southerner

Are you tired of your usual dinner spot?  Do you crave farm fresh meals prepared from scratch?  Do you want to visit a place where the staff genuinely cares about you?  If you said yes to any of these questions, The Southerner is the place for you!

The Southerner, located inside the Drury Plaza Hotel in Cape Girardeau, is a Southern bistro that has been serving the community since September of 2017.  The restaurant provides a menu of re-envisioned Southern food that is always evolving by using local, in-season ingredients.  The staff members are creative, innovative, and dedicated to making sure their customers have the best experience possible.  The place is easy to access, located in the middle of Cape and right off I-55.  What more could you ask for in a restaurant?

Behind the Business:

Steve and Teresa Blankenship dreamt about this business idea for several years before opening in 2017.  The Blankenship’s, who’ve also owned Tractors Classic American Grill since 1997, partnered up with Drury Southwest to make their dream a reality in the new Drury Plaza Hotel in Cape.  Teresa said,

“We had been partners with Drury when they had the Drury Lodge for 6 years prior, and we were doing all their catering through Tractors.  When they started to build the Drury Plaza, they wanted us to continue being partners with them, but they wanted a restaurant in the hotel to service their guests.  Steve and I had always wanted to do a re-envisioned, Southern-type bistro, and this was the perfect opportunity.  We do all the catering for the events in the hotel, so it’s a great partnership.”

What’s for Dinner?

The food at The Southerner is delicious and unlike anything else in the area.  They cook the food from scratch as much as possible, making the restaurant look like a produce stand rather than a place where everything is canned or frozen.  While they stay true to their Southern theme, they also use the creativity of their staff to come up with new menu ideas each week.  Teresa said, “We are really inspired right now because we have the farmer’s market.  We are going to those and finding out what’s fresh and what we can do with that.”  Follow The Southerner on Facebook to keep up with their specials and latest creations!

Ready to serve YOU.

Even though the cuisine seems like the top priority at The Southerner, the staff is even more focused on serving their customers.  The chefs, waiters, hosts, and more ask the question, “How can we make that customer want to come back?”  They strive to make each customer’s experience individualized to them and their needs.  This is how they’ve built a customer base over the past couple years.  Teresa said,

“I want people to know that we want to serve them.  We want to meet our customers’ needs, and if there is something we can do to better serve them, we want to know.  We want to make sure there’s a dialogue between us and our customers so we can be what we need to be for them.”

Next time you’re going out to dinner this summer, give The Southerner a try.  According to Teresa Blankenship, the outdoor dining area has the best sunset views in all of Cape Girardeau!  Whether you stop by the bar for a drink with friends or sit down to enjoy a burger with family, The Southerner has something for  you.  The waitstaff and chefs are ready to give you an experience beyond high-quality food – they are there to give you the best customer service around.  Enjoy!

Follow The Southerner on Social Media:

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

Instagram: @thesoutherner573