What if a meal could spark a revolution? In my latest journey through Johnston County’s Old North State Food Hall, I uncovered a place where every dish tells a story and every bite fuels a community’s heartbeat. From gourmet hot dogs to bold Cuban flavors, could this be the future of dining? Join me as I explore the magic behind the meals—and ask: How far can a shared plate take us?

It was a very fascinating conversation. We also talked a little bit about her journey in the food service business and how she ended up in Johnston County running this food hall for adventure development. Listen in. I think you will find it interesting and fascinating, and you'll be hungry when you get done listening.

Jonathan Breeden: Hello and welcome to another edition of The Best of Johnston County Podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Breeden. And on today's episode, we have Lorie Jones, who's the operator manager of the North State Food Hall at exit 97 off of I 95 in Selma, North Carolina, which is part of Adventure Development and in the old JR's location, for those of y'all that have been around Johnston County for a few years.

She's going to talk to us a little bit about the vendors that are there, the catering that they offer. Some of the events they're doing and how they're very involved in the community, their community involvement, and why you should go and visit the  North State Food Hall. But before we do that, I would like to ask you to like, follow, and subscribe to this podcast wherever you're seeing it, whether it be YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok.

It's a lot of evergreen content with local officials, interesting people, community leaders. That's what this podcast is about, is to make Johnston County look positive, and that's what we're doing today. Welcome, Lorie.

Lorie Jones: Thank you for having me.

Jonathan Breeden: All right, no problem. I appreciate you coming. I I know you're new to the food hall there.

And we met back during Christmas and I was like, well, I gotta get, get somebody from the food hall to come on here. Cause I talk about the food all the time. So anyway, as you can tell, I like to eat and I like the food hall, but anyway, tell the audience What your name is sort of educational background, and how you ended up running this food hall.

I smiled quite a bit and she said, I don't think you can do this, but I like your smile. I'm going to hire you. I'm like, okay, this is going to be fun. So I go and I do a day's work. Everybody's real mean. Cause I don't know what I'm doing. They weren't mean. I just didn't know what I was doing. And I told her, I said, I don't think this is for me.

And she said, Oh yes, it is. And I became a corporate trainer for that company. for Four months later, I ended up not finishing school back then. And then I started working for a company called Eat'n Park. It's a corporate in Pittsburgh. It's a smiley face cookie. And when, after that, I actually became a district manager at Denny's.

And then a general manager and multi union manager, Olive Garden and Starbucks.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh my goodness. Well, you've worked for several national chains.

So I went in, went in and visited the food hall. And I'm like, wow, what a concept. All these nationalities under one roof. So I went interviewed and I got the job, not because I'm a Steelers fan, but because of the background and I'm really happy to be here, really happy to be in Johnston County and it's probably one of the best moves I've made.

Jonathan Breeden: So when did you move to Johnston County?

Lorie Jones: Well, I live in Franklin County.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, you live in Franklin County, okay.

Lorie Jones: Yes, I moved here 12 years ago. Okay. Actually, the Olive Garden moved me down here to I work in 60 Olive Gardens. So I've opened them, did revamps. My husband said, you've got to stay at him. I was two years in executive apartments.

He's like, you've got to start staying put. So they moved me down here to go to Capitol Boulevard. And then here we go from here.

So anyway, so what did you learn before we'll get into the food hall in a minute, but what did you learn about the restaurant business and customer service? That you believe is important.

Lorie Jones: Well, one thing I tell people to be in a restaurant business all your life, you have to be a little bit crazy because you have to be used to turning and twisting and making so many changes.

If you don't like change, you shouldn't be in the restaurant business. That's just how it is. You always have to learn how to accommodate change. Pandemic taught us that how we had to change from eating the takeout and things like that. The main thing is you just have to make the guest happy.

It's easy. Everybody's like, how, how do you do it? You make the guest happy, not hard, right?

Lorie Jones: And also your employees, because they're your guests. You know, when somebody works for you, they're your guest.

And if you make your employees happy, they're going to make your guests happy. It's just a chain down effect.

Jonathan Breeden: That's true. That's true. And we, and I have made a big effort here to invest in the employees and their happiness over the last few years. And that's paid off because it's led to. People staying longer and less turnover.

You know, I know the food, quick service business can have a lot of turnover and it's important to try to slow that down. What are some of the things you've seen that have allowed you to be able to keep employees maybe longer than your average time in the quick serve restaurant business?

Lorie Jones: I think working side by side with them.

Cause you're the captain of the ship. So no matter if it's like things are happening, you always keep that positivity.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, well that's good idea. So if you're out there and you own a business or whatever, I think that's good for any business owner, whether it's in the restaurant business or not. So let's talk a little bit about the North State Food Hall.

What is it? Where is it? When's it open?

Lorie Jones: Well, it is on 67 Junior Road in Selma, right beside JR. And basically, it is a bunch of restaurants under one roof. So you have all kinds of nationalities, okay? So, as I start through the food hall, I think of the gourmet hot dog. And they have wings, they have hot dogs, all kinds of appetizers.

He has lots of Cuban appetizers, he has a Cuban coffee, Cuban desserts. Next down the line we have Mr. Outrageous burgers and cheesesteaks. And wow, what a burger,  what a burger and cheesesteaks he has he has.

Jonathan Breeden: It is about the best burger I've ever eaten. Yeah.

It is phenomenal. He also has a food truck it's around Johnston County. You can call them they'll come to your neighborhood or private event or whatever. Phenomenal, I don't know what's in those burgers but it is really good.

I mean, they're phenomenal, phenomenal. Their oven is 800 degrees and it's cooks a pizza so fast and just perfect. We also have JoCo Coffee, which is a coffee company that opens at seven o'clock in the morning and they do boba teas and coffee. We also have the Ice Storm with the great ice cream options, homemade cones, toppings.

We have the White Swan, of course, with all the southern complements, fried chicken, barbecue chicken. And we also have Provisions, which is our catering company, and we have the Longleaf Tavern.

Jonathan Breeden: Right, and so the Longleaf Tavern is a full service restaurant to go with the food hall sort of quick service restaurant and Longleaf Tavern, I've been there several times has beer and wine and spirits and, and all of that.

Lorie Jones: And we're actually starting prime rib night this Thursday. The long week. Oh, that sounds good. That's gonna be a big one.

That's for Eden or takeout. So, and we're actually gonna start a Sunday brunch on, in a Longleaf Tavern on Sunday. Our first week of both these, so,

Jonathan Breeden: oh man, I might have to go do that. Yeah, yeah. Longleaf Tavern's great. And they got plenty of TVs. You watch sporting events, right? You know, it's. Kind of like a sports bar.

It's got a beautiful bar. Whoever built that. I mean, it's really was really, really nice. Yeah.

Lorie Jones: And we have two private rooms too, that we rent out on right inside of it. We know we do meetings, we do kids birthdays, showers, whatever.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. Well, I've been to a Johnston County Bar Association meeting at Longleaf Tavern.

I've also been to a I met you at the event for leadership Johnston, that program had sort of an alumni meeting event. I asked where I met you there back over Christmas and got to see a lot of great people with, that as well. So, yeah, I really liked Longleaf Tavern a lot.

Lorie Jones: Well, on Tuesdays, it's 11 to 8 and the rest of the week, it's 11 to 9. But on the weekends, on Fridays, we have Music Bingo. So the Longleaf Taverns open to 10 and karaoke is open until 11 on Saturday night.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. A lot of people come to the karaoke.

Lorie Jones: it's packed. It's packed. We have such a great, Cheryl Hoffman does her karaoke and we do themes.

Like we did an ugly sweater party. We actually had pajama night last week. Everybody came in these robes and funny slippers and things. So we make it fun and it's such a great crowd we have.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. Well, that's great. That's great. So we know what the, you know, what is Longleaf Tavern serve?

Lorie Jones: What is it? So we're actually starting to serve out provisions. We're just starting to serve at the Longleaf Tavern.

We're starting with the prime rib. We're starting with the brunch and we're going to start serving out provisions.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. So what are some of the things that you have at Longleaf Tavern? Or are they going to have it Longleaf Tavern, other than prime rib?

Lorie Jones: Well, Provisions is serving like lasagna, chicken Alfredos.

We're going to do things like that. We're going to do more dinner type meals, more hearty type meals.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. And so Provisions is the catering company that is part of the North state food hall.

Lorie Jones: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: And you run that as well.

Lorie Jones: I do.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. All right. where does it cook at?

Lorie Jones: We have its own stall right beside White Swan.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Lorie Jones: And they supply coffee on the Raiford. We do second Street in Kenley. We do parties outside, inside. We do all kinds of caterings and things.

Lorie Jones: Well, we can do anything.

You tell me we can do it.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Lorie Jones: And like I said, if somebody calls me and says, Hey, I need this, we do buffets. We do box lunches to go. We do a lot of the department stores, things like that.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, I got you. And so what kind of things does Provision cook for its catering menu?

Lorie Jones: We do stuffed chicken, we do baked chicken, fried chicken, lasagna, chicken alfredos, shrimp scampi, chicken scampi, roast beef.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. And is it full service? Can people come pick it up? Or will you also go on site, set it up, serve it? Do you offer both? Most catering companies do. We

Lorie Jones: offer both, yes. And also too, we have a full bakery. We do homemade scones, we do homemade brownies, we do homemade pies, anything.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh man, that sounds really good.

Lorie Jones: We have a full baker there all the time.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, well that's great, that's great. Now also part of the Northgate Food Hall, that I don't know if people realize is, there's an event space.

Lorie Jones: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: And they, they do weddings?

We've done all kinds of things.

Jonathan Breeden: Right, now isn't there some event space beside it? Like in a The building, but well, it's all one building, but the neck, not in where the food all in Longleaf is in there. Some other events space there as well.

Lorie Jones: That is at the robotic, the robotics took that over now.

Jonathan Breeden: They did.

Okay. All right.

Lorie Jones: But we do have the two rooms too. So between the two rooms and the I'm sorry, Longleaf Tavern, we use that.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Have family law questions? Need guidance to navigate legal challenges? The compassionate team at Breeden Law Office is here to help. Visit us at www. breedenfirm. com for practical advice, resources, or to book a consultation. Remember, when life gets messy, you don't have to face it alone.

Jonathan Breeden: All right. So, and the robotics is, is this the JoCo RoBos? What's the name of this? It's the robotics.

Lorie Jones: It's a Johnston County robotics,

And it's really neat. And it's done through the first program. F. I. R. S. T. And you can look that up and you have kids that are interested in robotics or engineering or whatever. Those programs start with, as early as middle school with the first Lego League and stuff like that. So if you're interested in that or you think you have a kid that might be, look that up.

F I R S T it's an international program. It's all over the world. Johnston County's teams do fairly well in these competitions or have over the years. And it's a really good thing for these kids to get involved in. It's nice that they had that space there. I with, you know, next to the food hall as well.

Lorie Jones: No, we, we just ran out the tavern, which can hold up to 110 to 130 people.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Lorie Jones: So, I mean, you know, we can do that, but it's just we just thought that it was more important to have.

Give it to the robotics because it's such a great thing for the community, for the kids, especially, you know, nowadays these kids, their minds are right on this and what the growth can be. And then the one nice thing about robotics is if kids don't have the funding for it, they find the funding. So nobody's left out.

And that's a great thing.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, that's awesome. That's awesome. Well, You know, when I think about food halls, you know, there's things that you want to that. I think y'all have done a very good job with. I know it was there before you got there and I think you've you've improved since you got there.

There's plenty of parking.

Lorie Jones: Yes, there's definitely you have to have it for buses, RVs. You have to be attainable because we get a lot of buses coming in. So you have to be able to have that parking available for people, right?

Jonathan Breeden: You have, right. Ample restrooms that are clean.

First thing people do when they're traveling, they go to the restroom. They bring their kids in. Do you want to eat? Or, I mean, what happens really? Goes off those restrooms,

Jonathan Breeden: right? Right. And it you've got all different types of flavors. You have local flavors, white swan. I consider Mr. Outrageous local. Yeah. You know what I mean? You have the Cuban you got Luna pizza, which is great. So it got a lot of different flavors there for people to choose from.

Lorie Jones: We do. And we're dog friendly. We have a dog park for people to stop. And Look, our license goes to the patio up front, so people come in, grab a beer with their dogs on the patio.

It's really cool to see. I mean, it's just a fun thing, right?

Jonathan Breeden: There's plenty of seating.

Lorie Jones: Yes. Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: It's beautiful. It really is beautiful. Like, I mean, I'm not, I mean, what Kevin and adventure event development did in rehabbing the inside. And I got a chance to go, you know, a couple of different times as they were doing it.

That's my experience with it.

Lorie Jones: Yes. And we're even talking about like later on, like opening the back of the long leaf into an outdoor patio in the back, which is going to be huge for people to do things and

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Well, let's talk about some of the ways that the food hall has been involved in the community.

I mean, y'all are, I mean, Kevin and you and everybody has, done a really good job of, being in the community. Talk about some of the things you sponsor, some of the events you have there. I mean, there's Santa Claus, there's, I think you may even had a car show. I mean, there's all kinds of stuff. Talk a little bit about that.

So we have a lot of employees through that to help them with job training. And I love that program. I love to see people develop and be able to grow and keep. growing And of course, we had robotics that we talked about. We work with the hope ministries to get people a new start and a new career, new life. So that's always a great thing.

Some of the events we have, we are working with some local art, artists, and they do classes and things there. We actually have a Bob Ross in a brew class coming up, and that's where the lady who is actually in charge of the Bob Ross exhibit called me and said, I want to teach Bob Ross classes there.

Two are already sold out, so she put three more on, so that's a fun time. We're having stained glass classes. We want all people in the community who teach things to reach out because we would like to help them sponsor, you know, what they're doing. Oh, that's great. That's great.

You know, everybody's got to be budget conscious. Now, you know, food halls as a general thing seem to have a reputation of being maybe a little more expensive than you might. pay otherwise. What are the price ranges of the stalls there?

Lorie Jones: Well excuse me, the vendors, you know they rent some specials, you know Mr. Outrageous has a special everyday you know, prices in the economy gone up.

So we're comparable to everything. You can get a hot dog for 4$, you know we have white swan daily specials things like that. We're always running Tavern's special. So I don't think we're out price for a food hall. I mean w Comparable with everybody else, right?

Jonathan Breeden: But the average entree is 10 to 13 to 13. Okay.

Lorie Jones: say 14 probably at the.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. All right. And the sides are three to 5.

Yes, they are. Like you can get a side of fries for 5, 7, 4, things like that. Okay. All right. So desserts, desserts are very powerful.

Jonathan Breeden: All right. That's awesome.

That's awesome. And the beer and wine stuff. I know that stuff's expensive. Those prices at Longleaf are comparable to other restaurants as well.

Lorie Jones: You can do a domestic beer for three, like for 3. We have wild drinks for 4. Oh, that's a little better than some places.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah.

Lorie Jones: And we do bottles of wine for 20.

So, I mean, if you want to start drinking a glass of wine, take the bottle home. There you go.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Well, that's great. That's great. So anyway any, vendors are always changing with the food hall. If you go. Now and go in 90 days, it'll be different people. Why is that?

Lorie Jones: Because event, a food hall is supposed to be a starting point for a vendor, maybe a food truck who's getting their feet wet to see if they're ready for a brick and mortar.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Well, that's true. And I guess Food Hall's been there, what, two years?

Lorie Jones: About two and a half years. Two and a half years.

Jonathan Breeden: Golly, I'm getting old. Okay. And there's a couple of vendors that were there to start.

Lorie Jones: Yes. Luna Pizza and also Aroma de Cuba.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that's great. That's great. Yeah. But yeah, so, so yeah, so it's not always the same thing every time.

And you have so many different things to choose from. And the thing I like about it, when you have a wife and kids and everybody wants something different, at Food Hall, everybody can get what they want. Yes. And you don't have to argue about it. That's what I like about food halls.

Lorie Jones: And plus two, you can just order from the table.

You can take a picture of the QR code, order right from your phone, and we bring it right to you.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that's great. Because I mean,

Lorie Jones: that's fine. And the tavern the same way.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, great. That's awesome. That's great. Well, anyway, I know you just started working in Johnston County. You've been living in Franklin County for 12 years.

What do you love most about Johnston County?

I love that.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. So how can people reach out and learn more about the food hall? Reach out to you. Lorie Jones, the manager of the food hall. how's, can they do that?

Lorie Jones: They can do it by my email through the gm uh, Prospera. email. They could call me. I'm there almost every day at the food hall.

Jonathan Breeden: What's the phone number of the food hall?

Jonathan Breeden: I got you. What's the website for the food hall?

Lorie Jones: The website is it's just the old north state food hall.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay,

Lorie Jones: just Google it and it comes right up.

Go to Selma. You don't have to go to White Oak anymore. You don't have to go to Raleigh. You can go to Selma. Keep that money right here in Johnston County. Shop local. Support our local businesses. And some portion of every dollar in sales tax you pay, the county gets to keep as well. And so if we can keep that business here in Johnston County, it'd be great.

Wouldn't you agree with that?

Lorie Jones: Oh, I agree with that too. And I'll tell you what the guys like to do. Their wives go shop. They come sit at the Longleaf Tavern.

Jonathan Breeden: Can't go wrong with that, right? So anyway, we would like to thank Lorie Jones for being our guest on this week's episode of The Best of Johnston County Podcast.

Until next week, I'm your host, Jonathan Breeden.

That's the end of today's episode of Best of Johnston County, a show brought to you by the trusted team at Breeden Law Office. We thank you for joining us today and we look forward to sharing more interesting facets of this community next week. Every story, every viewpoint adds another thread to the rich tapestry of Johnston County.

If the legal aspects highlighted raised some questions, help is just around the corner at www. breedenfirm. com.