10/08/2026
This Friday is going to be a hard one for us.
It will be Ryan’s last day at Sullivan Country Store.
We want to say this very clearly because we know how quickly news travels in a small town: Ryan is not leaving because of anything he did wrong. There is no drama, no mysterious kitchen scandal, and he did not finally quit because Megan asked one too many questions about how long chicken fingers go in the fryer.
The truth is much less interesting and a lot more difficult.
We have reached a point where we simply cannot sustain an employee right now, so Will and I will be taking the kitchen back on ourselves.
Ryan has been so much more than an employee here.
He has been patient with us while we learned this business in real time. He has worked through broken equipment, crazy lunch rushes, menu changes, ridiculous requests, last-minute specials, hot kitchens, long prep lists and all the completely normal nonsense that comes with working in a tiny country store run by two people who occasionally have an idea first and figure out the logistics second.
There have been a lot of laughs.
There have been a lot of shenanigans.
There have definitely been days when all three of us looked at each other and wondered exactly how this became our life.
And we will cherish all of it.
Ryan has been kind, hardworking, dependable and incredibly patient. He cared about the food he sent out of our kitchen and about the people walking through our doors. He became part of this little store, and part of our lives, and saying goodbye to that chapter is genuinely heartbreaking.
We are going to miss him very, very much.
Now, because we can already hear the questions:
THE KITCHEN IS STAYING OPEN.
Will and Megan are simply being promoted to every available position.
Breakfast, lunch, burgers, steak and cheese, chicken fingers, fries, specials, grab-and-go meals, shepherd’s pie, chicken pot pie, chili and all the other things you know us for will continue.
We will also be cooking on Sundays from 8:00 - 6:00 pm.
For now, pizza will be the one thing coming off the menu while we get our footing and figure out exactly how many jobs two people can reasonably do before one of us wanders into the woods.
The store and kitchen will continue to be open Tuesday through Sunday.
We will still be CLOSED on Mondays.
This is another one of those changes we never imagined making, but if running this store has taught us anything, it is how to adapt, laugh when we can, cry when we need to, and keep going.
Most importantly, we want Ryan to know how grateful we are for him.
So if Ryan has made you a great breakfast, cooked your favorite lunch, made you laugh, or you’ve caught him wandering around the store for a few blessed minutes of air conditioning because the kitchen was somewhere north of 100 degrees, please leave him a little note below.
We would really love for him to see just how many people appreciated having him here.
Thank you for everything, Ryan.
We will always cherish the food, the friendship, the chaos and every single ridiculous Sullivan Country Store shenanigan in between.
Wherever life takes you next, Ryan, please know that you will always have a place in this store, in its story, and in our hearts. We are so lucky you were part of it.
