Ash comes in to relieve Namour and to manage the dinner shift.
While Namour has the know-how of an industry vet, 29-year-old Ash brings innovative ideas to the table and has helped the store become greener.
From Day 1, the store enrolled in a free oil-recycling program and it recently switched to corn-based cutlery that costs only slightly more.
“Nobody’s really putting pressure on us, but we feel like we need to do that,” Namour says.
While most customers don’t notice the switch, it’s extremely important to others. Shortly after the store opened, one man returned his salad and refused to eat it because it was served on a plastic foam plate.
Today Buns uses eco-friendly plates, but it still has to tackle the switch from plastic foam cups to paper ones.
“I’ve been pushing for it for a while,” Ash says. So far, he hasn’t been able to find a cost-effective substitute.
The rain keeps traffic during the typically busy dinner daypart to a trickle. Luckily, customers order from the specials menu.
Most days Buns has two combinations of toppings that can be added to any burger for $1 extra, but tonight there’s a third special—goat cheese and sun-dried tomato basil spread—specifically recommended for chicken.
“We had those toppings [bacon and avocado] typically that you pay an extra $1 for,” Ash says. “But when you put it on the special [menu], people tend to order it a little more.”
Ash thinks the specials are especially popular tonight because the store decided to add a third to the list at the request of customers who wanted a chicken special.
“That’s the beauty of being independent,” he says.
Ash starts to see the first of the bar crowd. He hides the desserts that usually sit on the counter.
While the late-night crowd is usually well-behaved, they have been known to occasionally steal the cookie jar or write on tables in ketchup while drunk. Tonight, one lights a cigarette before Ash gently reminds him that smoking is banned.
Usually the rush would start closer to 1 a.m., but it’s a Thursday—the slowest of the three nights Buns stays open late. Still, the crowd gains momentum and doesn’t thin until 2:30 a.m.
“When we opened, [Namour] didn’t think this could happen,” Ash says. He had to drive Namour by a nearby Qdoba one night to show him what they were missing out on.
Now late nights are just as busy as lunch or dinner.
Ash starts counting down the register. It’s closing time.
Tomorrow the process will start over again—and maybe at multiple locations sometime soon.
“I’d like to look at another place like this because we know it works,” Ash says. He and Namour have scoped out a spot in Durham near Duke University, but the pair is open to other campus locations, as well.
“We could pop it anywhere else,” Namour says. “The only thing we need to do is generate capital right now.”