If you grew up in America, then you’ve probably already seen enough jojo potatoes, chicken tenders and mozzarella sticks to last a lifetime. But step into Quickfoods in Bethel, and it quickly becomes clear: the history of the gas station hot case is still being written.
"We do orange chicken, crab Rangoon, mac and cheese bites, beef lasagna, chicken and pork lumpia, barbecue pork ribs, chicken fried rice," said manager Leni Allred, reading off handwritten labels attached to the edge of a sprawling plexiglass enclosure. "We do sweet and spicy chicken, soy garlic chicken, seafood pasta, shepherd’s pie, barbecue wings, prime rib, steak and potatoes, sweet chili wings, and many more items. They're not all of them here."
All of the roughly 50 dishes have at one point graced the hot case at the popular convenience mart, locally known as “Q2.” Many disappear in a matter of minutes during lunch rushes.
"We try to get all the food out by 11 o'clock. We try to do every day, something different. Like today, we have some specials," Allred said.
On March 27, Q2 was offering up Allred’s own cajun pasta, a guaranteed seller, alongside a new barbecue platter that was quickly bought up. One of the last went to TSA worker Deangelo Willis.
"I got the barbecue rib plate, you know, eating a little heavy today. This a cheat day," Willis said. "Some people from work said they liking it. So I was like, ‘Hey, let me go ahead and come on down, come try it.’"
The platter is the creation of Q2 employee Michael Hogue, a transplant to Bethel from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He’s also the man behind the newly introduced biscuits with reindeer sausage gravy, an immediate hit.
"It's all about just reading, reading what you see coming in," Hogue said. "I'm like, alright, well, people seem to like this kind of thing. So how about if I give them a little play on it from what I know from my Southern background, and it seemed to work very well."
Hogue said he started his day at 5 a.m pumping out breakfast burritos and Belgian waffle platters for the morning rush. There was little time to spare before the second wave of customers.
"For the lunch rush, here we have bacon cheeseburgers. We have bacon jalapeño burgers. We also have a nice turkey bacon ranch sandwich. And we are also doing some bratwurst," Hogue said.
Over his years working in the food industry, Hogue said he’s seen similarly ambitious hot cases, but nothing quite on the level of Q2.
"Yes, there are gas stations that try stuff like this, but they don't never put that much food in the window," Hogue said.
Hogue isn’t the only Q2 employee bringing southern flavors to Bethel. Oneil Domino, from New Orleans, stood over a barrel-shaped deep fryer full of chicken wings.
"Trying to bring a little bit of that Southern hospitality here to Bethel … flats and legs, and they're small legs ... it pack a big punch to be so small. It's just my special southern ingredients," Domino said.
Domino said he already had more than wings on his mind for Q2.
"I'm gonna try to get the breaded pork chops down here with a twist with it. So that's what I'm working on now," Domino said.
Behind the register, Domino promoted the Louisiana wings to customers who scanned the case. Queena Anderson, a recent arrival from Texas, hesitated, but then switched her chicken chunks out for the wings.
"I don't know how it tastes yet. But I could try one. Let's see, he say they good," Anderson said.
Surrounded by her coworkers, she bit into the wing: the deciding moment. Domino suggested dipping the wing in ranch, but was quickly interrupted by Anderson.
"You see, you know they good when you don't have to dip them in … yep, and they real good and flavorful, and crunchy," Anderson said.
Domino was beaming at the affirmation. These are the types of interactions the store’s manager, Allred, said make Q2 stand out in Bethel.
"We're very personable here. Eighty percent of the customers, I know their names, and I think that's what makes the difference for us to be busy and have people keep coming back," Allred said.
By 1 p.m., Hogue’s barbecue platters were like a distant memory, Allred’s cajun pasta was running low, and most of Oneil’s wings had taken flight. The next day, the Q2 crew would do it all again, showing the world of quick eats what one hot case is capable of.
