BUTLER — The “5 Points Drive-In,” located just off the Richland B&O Bike trail has been providing comfort and serving comfort food to locals for years.
When the small shop welcomed customers once again for the summer season, it also welcomed new owner David Morrison.
Morrison, who is from Columbus but grew up visiting family in north central Ohio, recently moved to Butler when his father’s health started to decline. He bought the “5 Points Drive-In” as a retirement job.
For most people, buying into the food business is not a relaxing way to spend retirement, but Morrison spent the last eight years cooking and traveling the country. Before purchasing the drive-in, Morrison was the Executive Chef for “Tour Cats,” a catering business that serves big-name musicians on tour.
“We would go out on the road with acts like Kenny Chesney, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Jimmy Buffet,” Morrison said. “We’d follow the tour bus and go to the venue the morning of (the concert) and hit the ground running at 4 a.m.
“We would cook breakfast, lunch and dinner for the headliners, the production staff and all of the touring crew members.”
Morrison saw a side of the show business that most never do.
“It’s the same thing as going into the office every day, you get to know everybody,” he said.
Living and working with the musicians, Morrison said you develop comfortable interactions with the stars. Interactions many fans dream of were ordinary for Morrison, such as hanging out with Faith Hill, a country singer who is married to Tim McGraw on the “Brothers of The Sun” tour.
Morrison even noted one time Chesney pranked him by convincing security guards to harass him for “trespassing” on the set while he was on break.
The job wasn’t all socializing with the headlining acts. Morrison and his crew often worked 18-hour days for six months at a time, with only a few days off.
“When you’d find yourself with two days off you’d literally just check into a hotel, take a shower and lay in bed and watch TV for 48 hours before it was time to get back,” Morrison commented.
Though the hours were long, the job was never boring and Morrison said he enjoyed the travel. He now feels he has places to call home in cities all across the country, including AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys. According to Morrison, while catering for stadium concerts, the crew lived for week-long periods under the stadium on numerous occasions.
“I was born with a nomadic gene,” Morrison said.
Perhaps, the seasonal ice cream shop fits for the eager traveler.
During the winter months when the drive-in is closed, Morrison said he plans to explore places like Vietnam and Hong Kong. He also plans to take his dad to visit family in Ohio and surrounding areas.
However, Morrison also hopes to extend the shop’s season by at least two months this year, maybe more in the future. Weather permitting, he plans to stay open until November. The chef envisions serving soup on chilly days and offering take-and-bake meals to provide a wider variety of food options.
Though Morrison has big plans, he said he plans to take baby steps.
“I don’t want to mess up the ideology of the ice cream shop and risk losing long-time customers and employees,” he said.
The first step in the gradual menu expansion is BBQ.
“There isn’t a BBQ spot in the immediate area, but it is something that is recognizable,” Morrison said.
Morrison likes to “play” with food by combining ingredients most people would never pair.
Some of his most popular creations have been “Peanut Butter and Jelly Duck,” a cooked duck breast with a rich raspberry sauce served over Thai peanut noodles. “Pumpkin ravioli,” is a dish he created on a whim when his restaurant needed to get rid of pumpkins they had used for seasonal decoration.
Those dishes were from the 20-plus years he spent in the restaurant business.
After dropping out of Ohio State at age 21, Morrison learned to cook while he working as a waiter.
“I was a natural at it,” he said.
Morrison opened his first restaurant, “Baci,” named after the chef who taught him to cook, when he was just 23. At the same time, he also opened a small stand in the Columbus North Market called “The Pastaria,” which is still open under different ownership today.
Talk of burritos and quesadillas is also in the air, but for now Morrison is focusing on perfecting the BBQ menu and introducing a food truck and catering aspect to the business.
So far, the food cart has made an appearance at a Mt. Vernon wedding, but its real debut will be on Friday, June 30 at South Park in Mansfield. The cart will be the only food vendor for this week’s summer concert put on by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), Local 159 group.
The concert begins at 7 p.m., but attendees are encouraged to come early to enjoy the food.
It looks like Morrison just has a knack for cooking for musicians, although he admitted he never dreamed he would end up running a business in small town Ohio, he loves it.
“I feel a part of a community here — a feeling I’ve never had in my life,” Morrison said.
