by Hayley Nations
A common staple among lunch seekers in Portales, the Do Drop In will be celebrating their anniversary this April. The restaurant offers breakfast, lunch, and fun activities to the community.
The current owners bought the restaurant after enjoying meals there and one day finding it closed. With a family member going to culinary school, they decided to buy the restaurant and continue to sell sandwiches and coffee, keeping a lot of the original menu items. After a few years, they moved the location to the square, just on the corner of Main Street. It quickly became a family business, with the Mountjoy’s cooking, baking, and making coffee, using both the old menu and adding their own recipes.
They enjoy meeting people in the community and building those relationships. “Just the people that we meet, especially with ENMU, you meet so many people and then they move off. And then they always end up coming back. They’re so excited,” says one of the owners, Kamille. They have always been community centered, from hosting music in the yard of their old location, to hosting game nights and paint parties at the current one.
“Friday nights we stay open from six to midnight. It’s just for gaming, playing, or watching a movie, or just hanging out and talking. It doesn’t cost anything, it’s free, there’s nothing to do around here, so it’s kinda fun to have something for them to do,” says Kamille.
Do Drop In has become known as the home of the green monster, a popular sandwich offered on the menu. A visitor would find many green monsters around the restaurant, from the counters to a display case. Many of the sandwiches have interesting names, such as the Lumberjack, the Fat Albert, the Knuckle Sandwich, and, of course, the Green Monster. Some favorites are the Bandito, the Strawberry Club, and the Reuben.
A piece of advice that they would share with other small business owners would be to stay out of debt. Kamille advises, “I think a lot of places go in and they are so in debt that you just can’t get out. I tell people all the time, if you can’t afford it, don’t do it.”
They don’t have very big plans to celebrate the anniversary, saying that they will probably wait until a big year to do something extra special. However, on April 20th, be sure to drop in and try a soup, sandwich, and custom coffee.
