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Nick Bowman Features Editor | 770-718-3426 | life@gainesvilletimes.com
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gainesvilletimes.com
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Heaven on the side of the road
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Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Nicole Kempker’s ‘half-baked’, to-go spot in Gainesville has been around for six years in a tiny drive-through building along Thompson Bridge Road.
From a small roadside shop, Nicole Kempker serves up home cooking to go
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Nicole Kempker’s to-go spot for home-cooked meals is taking Christmas orders until Dec. 19.
BY LAYNE SALIBA
lsaliba@gainesvilletimes.com
If you are looking for Neat
Eats while driving down
Thompson Bridge Road, don’t
blink — if you do, you’ll prob
ably miss it.
The half-baked drive-
through is a small — really
small — building that essen
tially sits in the parking lot
between Northside Bottle Shop
and Animal Medical Care.
But business owner Nicole
Kempker said it’s the perfect
spot, and exactly what she
needed six years ago when
she first saw the little building
that now serves scratch-made,
oven-ready meals, soups,
sides, dips and desserts to any
body who wants a fresh meal
throughout the week. Holidays
are the busiest, so Dec. 19 is the
deadline to pre-order meals for
Christmas.
“It was really just brain
storming how to move to the
next level from just doing cater
ing,” said Kempker. “We were
just driving around, looking at
different spots to rent and we
saw the ‘for sale’ sign — this
used to be a little coffee shop —
and my husband and I looked
at each other and said, ‘That’s
where we need to do it.’”
She had gotten out of a
12-year career in insurance
after having twins, but still
wanted to do something she
enjoyed that allowed her time
to be with her children. She
knew she loved cooking, so she
began catering and eventually
had the idea to start a little
drive-through spot after friends
told her they wanted her to
Neat Eats
Where: 996 Thompson
Bridge Road, Gainesville
When: 1 to 6 p.m. Tuesday
through Friday
Contact: 678-267-5315
More info: Facebook
cater all their meals.
“I found that there was a
definite niche for this,” Kemp
ker said. “People don’t have
enough time in their day to do
cooking, and make scratch-
made food, but they still want
to provide that for their fam
ily or for themselves, and you
don’t always want to go through
a drive-through, fast-food, or
sit at a restaurant with your
small children. You want to sit
around your kitchen table, and
I feel like I’m definitely provid
ing something that is definitely
needed in the community.”
But the change wasn’t easy.
“Going from corporate world
to being a business owner with
twins. It was a scary, scary
jump, but this area has been
super supportive, right from
the get-go,” Kempner said.
“I’ve had clients and custom
ers who have come in and sup
ported me since day one and
I’ve never looked back.”
The shop is so small, she
can’t cook there. The cooking
is done at her home, where
she built a professional kitchen
off of her basement. It’s full of
commercial ovens, stoves and
prep tables.
“I always wondered, ‘How
does she do all this?” said Kat-
lan Arnold, who works at the
shop. “It’s a lot.”
“In order to be able to do this
and at this level, that is what I
had to do,” Kempker said. “Go
big or go home, right?”
So that’s what she’s done.
Kempker said she’s put every
thing into the business over the
past six years. She feels so close
to Neat Eats that it’s still just
her who does all the cooking.
“It’s hard for me to relin
quish the control with every
thing,” Kempker said.
But Kempker is only in con
trol of half of her recipes — as
a “half-baked” shop, she sells
recipes are are almost ready
to eat. The last stretch relies on
her customers.
Luckily for them, Kempker
has made it easy by putting
everything in oven-safe con
tainers and writing directions
on the top. All of her meals are
ready in an hour or less.
Some of her most popular
dishes are shrimp and grits,
beef stew topped with mashed
potatoes, creamy Tuscan
chicken linguini with sun-dried
tomatoes and spinach.
“My favorite is barbecue
(macaroni and cheese),”
Arnold said.
Kempker said all of the
soups are hits and the meatloaf
“flies off the shelf.”
Her knack for cooking came
from growing up sitting around
with family in the kitchen,
cooking the same way and the
same things she does today:
comfort food-style.
“And my grandmother lived
on a farm,” Kempker added,
“so I would go spend summers
there, and I just remember sit
ting on the little stool, snapping
beans with her telling me how
to do her German chocolate
cake or whatever.”
That was in Tennessee,
where she thinks she “got the
ability to cook Southern-style
food” after growing up in Illi
nois — why you might find
some midwest cooking in her
recipes from time to time.
She said making Neat Eats
successful has been balancing
act of being a mother, wife and
business owner. Each night,
she said, it feels like she gets
one less hour of sleep. But she
gets up every day because she
loves what she does.
“It’s my business and it’s my
love,” Kempker said. “It’s my
everything. It’s like, ‘How do
you not get up and feed your
infant at 2 o’clock in the morn
ing when they’re hungry?’
That’s what I’m here to do, and
you just make it work.”
Christmas is a reminder that each and every life is precious
Every Christmas, when I
decorate the crystal-laden
tree in our bedroom, I hold
up, one at a time, each of
the three ornaments that
are tinkling bells, ring them
and say, “Teacher says
every time a bell rings, an
angel gets his wings. ”
Usually, Tink is sitting
there to hear this recitation,
which I do in the voice of an
untrained child actor and
he either shakes his head
or comically rolls his eyes.
This is one of the last lines
in the rousing final scene of
the holiday favorite, “It’s A
Wonderful Life.”
Always I have loved this
movie for that last scene.
Every time when George
Bailey is rescued by the
love of his neighbors and
friends, I cry. I have seen
this movie — or at least this
one scene — at least two
dozen times. And still, I cry.
RONDA RICH
southswomen@bellsouth.net
Several years ago, when
I experienced a small town
in Arkansas demonstrate
a similar generosity and
big-heartedness, it became
the inspiration for a book
I wrote called “The Town
That Came A-Courtin.’” It
was a best seller and later
a well-received televi
sion movie. Readers and
viewers, like me, were
captivated by the town of
Blytheville and a wealth of
people who loved uncon
ditionally, people who had
nothing to gain by helping
another but their hearts led
them to it.
On the night that the
actors — including the
iconic Valerie Harper —
and crew filmed the cli
matic scene of the movie,
where the town’s people
have finally succeeded
through meddling and the
prayer chain to bring the
couple together, I stood
behind one of the cameras,
watching. Actress Lauren
Holly, who played the
character based on me, and
Cameron Bancroft kissed
while the crowds cheered,
laughed and high-fived
each other. Valerie grasped
at her heart, sighed and
smiled tenderly.
And I cried.
Not for one second
because I had written a
book that became a movie
— that was surely God’s
good grace. The tears
came because watching
that moment of kindness
and love was heartwarm
ing. Overwhelming so. And
because I knew it was true
— that people like that do
exist. I had seen it, and I
had experienced it.
The other day I needed
inspiration for a Christmas
column. I needed to go to a
place of nostalgia so I put
the movie on and planned
to let it play in the back
ground but I got caught up
in it and watched it with
new, differently appreciat
ing eyes.
For the first time, as a
writer, I was impressed
with the story that director
(and co-writer of the movie)
Frank Capra had weaved
together. It is simultane
ously infused with both
conflict and tremendous
hope. Four lessons prevail:
Prayer works (the movie
begins with all the prayers
pouring into heaven for a
man named George Bai
ley); the seeds of kindness
produce greats harvests;
good wins eventually; and
every life is important.
Each person’s life is part of
a plan so big that our minds
are unable to understand
the complexity. Yet, Capra
was able to simplify that.
No wonder it is consid
ered one of the 100 Best
American Films ever
made.
For two days prior to
watching “It’s A Wonderful
Life,” I had been spell
bound by every second
of the funeral and memo
rial for former President
George H.W. Bush. I even
recorded the funeral and
re-watched it after viewing
it live. George Bush was a
modern day George Bailey.
His 95 years were a tribute
to how the kindness and
spirit of servitude of one
man can affect millions of
lives.
Both Georges were so
similar in how they ear
nestly helped others and
how people responded to
their deliberate acts of
greatness.
Needless to say, I did a
bit of crying over the two
days of Bush tributes.
Then, I watched the
movie and cried again at
the end.
It feels good to see the
wonderfulness of people.
Ronda Rich is the best-selling
author of several books,
including “Mark My Words:
A Memoir of Mama.” Sign up
for her newsletter at www.
rondarich.com. Her column
appears Tuesdays and on
www.gainesvilletimes.com.
