This week’s Humans of Chapelboro features Al Bowers, a local restaurant entrepreneur and fixture in the Chapel Hill community as the owner of Al’s Burger Shack. He plans to open his second location in Southern Village soon.
“I am the oldest great-grandchild on both sides of my family, and the oldest grandchild on both sides of my family. My nickname is Buddy, because I am Alfonso Hugo Bowers the Third. My great-aunt Rachel gave me that nickname after a boyfriend of hers that was tragically killed in a car wreck. I’ve always been told that I came along at the right time. I lived with my grandparents the first couple years of my life, and it really probably kept them alive a few more years. I provided some joy in a small town in Virginia. I was born on the 4th of July. I had as good an early childhood as you can imagine. My parents divorced when I was 5, so I went to live with my mother. I know it was difficult for her, but we were very lucky. We didn’t feel like we wanted for a lot, or missed a lot. I felt like we had everything we needed. Then when I was in 7th grade, my first year of junior high school, I moved with my dad. [My mother] felt that I needed that kind of male structure in my life, and so from 7th grade through college, I lived with my father and my stepmother. I have five siblings, and even as a child I was a very happy baby, a happy kid, and that carries on to this day. I don’t complain about a lot. I played sports and I had lots of friends. Like I said, I never wanted for much of anything. I think I’m probably pretty spoiled. My siblings have often commented to my wife that, you know, I got away with everything, or got everything I ever wanted, as the oldest child. But I had a great childhood.”
“I was born in Richmond [Virginia], but I grew up in Greensboro [North Carolina]. We moved to Greensboro when I was 3. When somebody asks where I’m from, I say Greensboro. My freshman year [of college], I moved to Chapel Hill. I went to school here, and met my wife here, and we decided that we wanted to raise our children here. We were together 10 years, I didn’t think we were going to have kids, and I was okay with that. But I have a big family, so I always felt like there would be lots of children around, and when she told me that she was pregnant, it was like alright, let’s move to Chapel Hill.”
“I was part of a restaurant in 1997–we owned the Steel Porcupine in Raleigh. I had 3 partners and we were open a couple of years. Then I opened Al’s Burger Shack on Franklin Street in September of 2013. So that was the second one, I guess. This restaurant [in Southern Village] we hope to have open in the next three weeks.”
“It’s challenging, [owning a restaurant in Chapel Hill], but it’s very rewarding. We’ve been very fortunate. I think my experience at other places has helped me with this, as far as being a fixture in town. I ran Merritt’s for a couple of years, so when we opened up the burger shack, I knew a lot of people, and a lot of people knew who I was. So it’s great. We have a very strong restaurant community here. It’s very collaborative, and that’s important. It didn’t always used to be like that when I first got into it in the late 80’s, early 90’s, when it was everybody looking out for themselves. But now I think the realization is that there is enough for everybody, and that it works better when you work together. We’re very fortunate in that regard.”
“I studied Industrial Relations [at Carolina]. They call it Human Resources or something now. It was a fair amount of sociology and a small percentage of business. It’s management, basically. There are principles that I learned at school that I use everyday. The psychology of it, really, when you’re managing people. How to motivate, how to have a stern hand but get your point across, how to manage money and productivity and expectations, not only from yourself but from your staff as well. There are a lot of practical elements that I learned at school that I use on a daily basis.”
“I think [the most meaningful part of owning my own restaurant] is the staff. They put forward so much effort and are so loyal, and sometimes I sit back and think oh my god, I’m responsible for not only the staff but their families, and their children, and you know, it could be overwhelming but its rewarding. It motivates me to always try to, one, keep them employed. But its great to see staff buy houses, and buy cars, and move from one level to another throughout their tenure with me. I really enjoy that part. That’s probably the most rewarding for me is watching staff development and just being super appreciative of what they’ve done for me and my family.”
Photos by Aleta Donald. Peruse the entire Humans of Chapelboro series here.
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