Meet the Owners: Lou Ann and Kemper
LOU ANN: A lifelong resident of Decatur IL. Lou Ann has been self-employed her entire life. At 21 she purchased a small relatively unknown little business known to the locals as Dels Popcorn Shop. Over the next 30 years Lou Ann transformed this obscure little shop into a multi-unit organization and in the process turning Dels into a household name throughout central Illinois. After moving to Florida Lou Ann worked in store management for an up-scale boutique grocery chain before devoting herself full time to the The COVE. Lou Ann creates daily specials that are basic yet utterly fantastic. Nearly everything at The COVE is made from scratch and made with products from local suppliers. Her creative and eccentric culinary skills have distinguished the The COVE as the place to go for exciting food and she has the Civic awards to prove it!!!
KEMPER: A native of Wichita Kansas, Kemper has been in the restaurant and bar business his entire career. This proving conclusively that some people never, ever learn. From an early age he worked as a director of operation for several national pizza chains before becoming a Pizza Hut Franchisee. Most recently Kemp owned and operated four Pizza and Grinder shops in Springfield and Peoria Illinois as well as A 250 seat Mexican restaurant and a 200-seat family restaurant in Decatur Illinois. A self-confessed neat freak with strong tendency toward O.C.D. Kemper regularly drives The COVE staff and Lou Ann nuts with his continuous straightening of shelves and reorganizing stuff that doesn’t need to be organized in the first place. Around The COVE Kemper serves as Lou Ann’s personal slave and organizes (there’s that word again!) promotions, directs the operations, does daily paperwork, fixes stuff, refill your Ice Tea, busses tables and tells corny jokes.