Back Home Restaurant
Food, family and an Elizabethtown favorite
LORI FULKERSON’S MOTHER and grandmother weren’t even selling food when they started the business that would become Back Home Restaurant in Elizabethtown.
Lori’s mother, Linda Fulkerson, and her grandmother, Lola Allen, sold dolls, potholders, needlework and other homemade crafts, operating from the trunk of Linda’s car. In 1984, they rented a two-room space in downtown Elizabethtown. They outgrew it within a couple of years, and in their new five-room store, they identified a sales problem—husbands were hurrying their wives through the shopping experience. The solution? Soup beans and pimento cheese sandwiches.
Lori’s dad, Tommy, would start the beans before going to work at the Coca-Cola plant. During lunch hour, he’d come downtown to serve bean soup and sandwiches.
“It just took off,” says Lori, who’s been with the business since the beginning. “We just kept adding more things to the menu.”
Today, Back Home Restaurant is housed in a historic home built in 1872, offering a full menu based on family recipes—from fried green tomato BLTs to chicken salad to homemade cobblers and pies. The food is the main event these days, but there’s still a small gift shop, selling candles, homemade candies and chocolates, home decor and more. On the upper floor, Lori’s oldest daughter, Hali Spiers, owns and operates O’Neal’s Boutique. Lori, who bought the business with her husband, Steve, in 2000, is proud of the fact that all four of her kids have worked in the family business.
“I love the heritage, I love the story, I love people,” she says. “We really pay attention to what the customers want and what they say. It’s our life.”
Located at 251 W. Dixie Ave. in Elizabethtown, Back Home Restaurant is open 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Sunday.
