Keeping customers in the picture

If Monday’s overview of country steakhouses didn’t persuade you to point your car toward one of them, today’s collection of portraits might do the trick. In today’s TFS, a customer photo gallery from Old Gin Steakhouse and the story behind it.

Morgan Thomas didn’t set out to become Jackson County, Alabama’s house photographer when he started taking portraits of every customer at Ole Gin Steakhouse in Section, Alabama. But Thomas, a retired Tennessee Valley Authority engineer, wanted to support his wife’s dream of owning and operating a steakhouse. So, he came up with a unique promotional strategy when the restaurant opened three years ago.

“It’s not like I was really smart or figured it would be a great idea,” he said after service on a recent Saturday night. “It was something to post to say, ‘People are coming. Maybe you want to come.’”