'The Joy of Feeding Chapel Hill': Mama Dip's Kitchen Permanently Closes

Mama Dip’s Kitchen on West Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill is closed — for good.

The restaurant, owned and operated by the family of Mildred “Mama Dip” Council, shared a post on its Facebook page saying Tuesday it is officially closed and thanking its patrons for their business across nearly five decades.

“Since 1976, we’ve had the joy of feeding Chapel Hill with love, soul, and Mama Dip’s dump cooking goodness,” reads the message. “From family dinners to first tastes, we are HONORED to have been a part of your stories.”

The announcement comes almost exactly one year after the Council family said it would be shifting service at 408 West Rosemary Street from dine-in to takeout and event space only — backtracking on an initial closing announcement that has since been deleted from Mama Dip’s social media pages. At the time, Anita “Spring” Council told the News & Observer the indication of the restaurant fully shutting down was a “miscommunication.” The family also shared it plans to keep using the brand of Mama Dip’s, as it has explored expansion and franchise options in the past, with Tuesday’s post reiterating that idea.

“This chapter at Mama Dip’s Kitchen has concluded,” it reads. “But the brand will stay alive and we are working to see what is next for us. And we can not wait to share it with y’all!”

Closure for the restaurant was forecasted in 2023 when the 0.68-acre property and building was put on the market with an asking price of $3.6 million. Spring Council told Chapelboro at the time the business would not close or shift operations until the land was sold. Orange County property records indicate the property shifted ownership from the Mildred C Council Living Trust, which assumed ownership in 2007, to Mama Dips Properties LLC in May 2024, two months before the announcement of the business’ shift to exclusively takeout orders and event rentals.

Mildred Council was a Chapel Hill native who first opened a diner with a handful of seats in 1976 on West Rosemary Street, after having cooked for years at establishments like the Carolina Coffee Shop and St. Andrews Hall. The expanded restaurant was built in the 1999 and the brand of Mama Dip’s — based on Mildred’s childhood nickname — grew further with two cookbooks published in 1999 and 2005. Between the menu of the business and her cookbook recipes, Council became known as a matriarch of Southern and traditional country dishes, with options ranging from chicken-fried steak and seafood, to chitlins and cream cheese pound cake. She died in May 2018 at the age of 89, leading the rest of the Councils to assume the co-owner titles.

Similar to many local restaurants, the COVID-19 pandemic changed how Mama Dip’s Kitchen operated and how the community engages with the business. The business scaled back its hours to accommodate staffing shortages and lack of in-person dining, and the popularity of to-go orders is partially what led the Councils to transition to a takeout model.

Photo via Mama Dip’s Kitchen.

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‘The Joy of Feeding Chapel Hill’: Mama Dip’s Kitchen Permanently Closes

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