PRESTON – The Arctic Circle located at 196 S. St. in Preston has been rebranded as “Taters.”
It will still be one of the community’s favorite eateries, it just has a different name.
Nadene Murphy, who had the Arctic Circle franchise, decided to go independent so she could tweak the menu to suit the needs of the people in the community.
“Right now, we only have the drive-through open,” Murphy said. “We are hoping to have the inside open in the next two to three weeks.”
Currently, the drive-through features burgers, shakes, soda, and fries.
Murphy grew up in the burger business; in fact, her father bought his first Arctic Circle franchise in 1957. Nadine was part of the business early on. She peeled potatoes as a youngster which were later cut then turned to French fries. Her father nicknamed her “Tater” because of her work with spuds.
“My husband and I purchased the franchise from my parents in 1995,” she said. “About 2006, we moved to a vacant McDonald’s building where we are now.”
Her husband has passed so she is managing the operation with two daughters and two granddaughters, making it three generations of women involved in making the place successful.
Murphy has fast food running through her veins. She once had burger franchises in Rexburg, Shelly, Sparks, Nevada as well as Preston. They eventually sold them all off except for the Preston location.
“I’ve been in this business my entire life,” Murphy said. “But I’m still learning a lot, there is always something new to learn.”
When they open the seating area of the restaurant, they will have a new menu more suited to the taste of the residents in the community. That’s one of the advantages of being independent of the franchises. Franchises have a one-size-fits-all mentality.
“If customers don’t like something we can change directions and try something new,” she said. “There is always going to be something people don’t like so we can change directions.”
One thing Murphy would like the public to know is they will be offering BBQ chicken wings for the Super Bowl. People can come in and buy a pack of them to eat while they watch the game.
She has been in the business nearly 70 years and has no plans to stop any time soon.
“I might just die here, I don’t know,” she said. “Once I get this place up and running, I’ll reevaluate things.”
Right now, she has good people working at “Taters” but one of the challenges of fast food is finding good people who want to work. That is a worry, she said.