CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Mimi's & Papa's Restaurant owners recently announced that they will be closing their Flour Bluff location due to a lack of traffic in the Bluff's Landing Marina area.
After being diagnosed with cancer, co-owner Chad Mills decided to move on from his construction business to open the restaurant. The goal was to secure his family's financial future.
Mills and his wife were excited when their restaurant grew to a bigger location at Bluff's Landing Marina, but they didn't expect that just seven months later they would be shutting their doors. With the marina now private, traffic to his business has slowed down.
"We were hoping it won't trickle down too bad to us," Mills said. "But reality it knocked down 75 percent of our business immediately."
He said he made several changes in order to keep the business afloat, but nothing made a big difference.
"Business decisions are made; if I can't afford to buy food then I can't afford to serve the people here and we just didn't have business," Mills said.
Restaurant regular Todd Horn grew up in Flour Bluff and has seen the changes the area has gone through over the years firsthand. He said the restaurant was a local favorite and he's sad to see it close down.
"It's kind of hard to get it out of focus, to watch a flower die that was suppose to bloom," Horn said. "Didn't have every opportunity because there was things that were unknown to them and I just thought it was unfair and it just doesn't seem right."
Currently, Mills and his family are continuing to serve the Coastal Bend by providing catering services while they raise money for a new food truck.
"We're going to drop some of our prices on our catering stuff and that way everybody can take advantage of it, and know we are here for them [costumers] and in hopes they're here for us," he said.
Mills says his family is thankful for the outpouring support from the community.
You can view their catering information here and donate to their online fundraiser here.