Amid pandemic and hurricanes, Lowe’s provides support for Louisiana restaurant

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Newsroom Contributor
Feb 11, 2021

The Snack Shop Two in tiny Melville, Louisiana is the kind of place where you can order french fries five different ways. They serve lasagna in giant silver trays and you can grab your craveable food at the walkup window.

If you want to eat out in Melville, it’s the only option for twenty miles.

“Melville is a quiet town with people who care and have Southern hospitality,” said April Butler, the Snack Shop owner. “Anyone is welcome here. If you’re hungry you’re going to get fed. If you need somewhere to sleep, they’re going to find you somewhere to sleep.”

Butler opened the restaurant in 2017. It started as just a tiny house with a small kitchen and a window where people could order their food. The original Snack Shop was so successful, Butler added indoor seating and an outdoor patio. 

Then, early in 2020, Snack Shop Two was born -- right before the pandemic hit.

As a result, that brand new dining room sat empty.

“No income was coming in, but bills were still coming in. Everyone was afraid. It was slow. It was very slow to get started,” Butler said.

The mother of four stuck with it, working 12-hour days by herself, trying to be there for the few customers that trickled in. Sometimes she served just two customers a day. She also continued her longtime practice of delivering free meals to area seniors with no transportation.

A few months into the pandemic, customers started coming back and business was picking up.

Then not one but two hurricanes hit Melville. Butler’s restaurant had some broken windows along with roof and water damage. A local carpenter donated his services to get her back up and running once again.

I was breaking mentally. I was tired.

But I was like, ‘I can't give up.'

April Butler

With COVID cases on the rise and most people only coming for take-out, Butler was still struggling to pay the bills and couldn’t afford to hire anyone, so she was the only one working at her restaurant day in and day out.

“My mom was worried. She said, ‘You're tired. You're not getting rest. You're not eating properly. If you don't get some help up in there, I think you might need to close for a while."

But for Butler, closing was not an option.

“The community was relying on me. They were expecting me to be open. So, I was doing it – 14 hour shifts by myself, seven days a week. And I was getting weary. I needed the help really, really bad. I was wearing my body down. I was breaking mentally. I was tired, but I was like, ‘I can't give up.’”

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She’d heard about a Lowe’s Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) but wasn’t sure it was legitimate. After calling to confirm the grant process was in fact real, she sat down at a table in her restaurant and completed the application.

Later she got news that overwhelmed her.

“I was so, so shocked when I received an email saying that I was a finalist," she recalled. "Cannot be, not here. Not in Melville. Things don't happen like this here.”

Butler was ultimately awarded a $20,000 grant, joining thousands of businesses across the country that have gotten help from the $55 million in grants doled out to minority and women owned businesses.

She used the money to hire three people and bought freezers that allow her to stock up on inventory and save on regular trips to the grocery store.

“It was so cool, because the ladies that I hired lost their jobs because of COVID,” she said. “I am super, super thankful. I'm 37. I've worked since I've got out of college, but I have never worked like I worked in my own business. Didn't know how I was going to keep going. But I’m thankful to Lowe's for the grant and the opportunity.”