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Tuesday, 03 February 2026
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Written by Anna White
High-level hospitality in a casual dining setting—that’s how Chris Beal, owner of Bounty Farmhouse Kitchen and Tap at 4150 Sycamore Dairy Rd., describes their dining experience. The spot opened in September 2025, introducing the Fayetteville area to a seasonally rotating menu defined by locally sourced ingredients. Now, they’re bringing “a true taste of North Carolina” to Southern Pines with a second location opening right next door to the Target shopping center.
Their farm-to-table approach gathers inspiration from what’s available within a 50 mile radius of the restaurant. Farmers whose practices align with sustainable, regenerative ideals are handpicked and become an integral part of the dishes that ultimately make it onto customers’ plates. These personal relationships and connections keep the restaurant supplied with fresh meat and produce year-round. Bounty’s vision was born part of passion, part of necessity.
Beal, a fifth-generation Chatham County native, says he’s been passionate about farming for a long time. Growing up around farms fueled that passion, and after falling in love with business in college, he entered the restaurant scene. Best known for Tribeca Tavern, a 15-year Cary fixture that serves gourmet burgers, Beal’s journey to raise and source local ingredients began during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the restaurant struggled to secure the right meat cuts. Meat processors had begun butchering more retail cuts for grocery stores and fewer restaurant cuts, seeing that consumers were staying at home. As a result, Beal and his team improvised and ultimately founded Chatham Meat Company.
“During Covid, we couldn’t find beef, so it allowed us to think outside the box. We started buying whole animals and having them butchered. That opened the doors to Chatham Meat Company, which, in turn, led us to want to continue down that farm-to-table concept, which is where Bounty came from,” he explained.
Throughout the transition, they learned just how much meat comes from national and international sources and processing times from slaughter to consumer. For major restaurant suppliers, the length of time from slaughter to consumer is between 60 and 90 days, according to Beal. Alternatively, meat used in both Tribeca Tavern’s and Bounty Farmhouse Kitchen and Tap’s burgers has been slaughtered, aged for two weeks, then butchered and delivered to the restaurant the same week.
“It’s just a much safer, more sustainable alternative,” explained Beal. “With a lot of ground beef that’s sent to restaurants from major suppliers, there’s DNA from a couple hundred different animals. In ours, that ground beef is from that animal.”
When looking for suppliers, Beal says they look for "someone who is willing to commit to the sustainable model of pasture-raised beef and not utilizing feedlots.”
Bounty Farmhouse Kitchen and Tap currently works with 20 local farmers to supply both meat and produce. Beal says their mission with produce and meat is the same.
“We’re trying to look for folks that are going back to regenerative style agriculture—a lot less use of pesticides and herbicides. And folks that are able to keep up with what we’re doing and understand that we have to change the menu quite a bit.”
The changing menu has been one of their biggest challenges so far, but has earned some of their most faithful patrons. When working with local farms, ingredient supply fluctuates not only on a seasonal basis but on a weekly basis.
“We may not have asparagus one day, or we may not have sweet potatoes, but we may have them next week,” Beal said of the fluctuations. “It’s definitely an uphill battle making folks understand that.”
Initially, Beal said they received some negative feedback regarding unavailable menu items. He takes the time to reach out personally and address such concerns.
“It has really been remarkable how few and far between that negative feedback has been. And 99% of those folks turned out to be huge fans of what we were doing once they understood. I mean, we’ve had folks return to dine with us 20-30 times. It’s just unbelievable.”
The Southern Pines location is set to open in early 2026.
“We’re really excited to keep growing,” said Chloe Butler, director of restaurant operations. “But we're never going to grow so much that we forget what we're doing and don’t have a handle on really supporting the community.”
While the Southern Pines location is much smaller than the Fayetteville location, Beal thinks it’s a perfect fit.
“We were approached by the landlord at Southern Pines, who was developing the center near Target, looking for a local company that had the ability to operate at a higher level. With our experience with Tribeca, we explained to them that we were opening a new concept, and it really caught their attention,” he shared. “I think people are really starting to become aware of what they're feeling in their bodies, and I feel like we're in the right place at the right time.”
(Photos courtesy of Bounty Farmhouse Kitchen and Tap)
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Tuesday, 03 February 2026
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Written by Bill Bowman
In every community, there are people whose work becomes more than a job. Their dedication becomes a standard. Their relationships become a legacy. Their presence becomes part of the fabric of the place they serve. For nearly half a century, Joe Thigpen has been one of those rare individuals—steady, humble, loyal, and deeply committed to the people of North Carolina’s beverage industry.
As Joe prepares to close out his extraordinary 48‑year career on Feb. 27, his story stands as a testament to perseverance, gratitude, and the power of genuine human connection.
Joe’s journey began in 1977 with Pepsi, where he started as a Sales/Delivery Driver. It didn’t take long for his work ethic and natural leadership to shine. Within three years, he was promoted to Route Manager, a role he would hold for the next 15 years. Those years were formative—not just professionally, but personally.
He learned from seasoned veterans who shaped his understanding of the business. He built friendships that would last a lifetime. And he took on major responsibilities, including overseeing the Fort Bragg military base and managing fountain sales and full‑service vending operations across eight counties. Even then, Joe wasn’t just delivering beverages—he was delivering reliability, trust, and service that people could count on.
In 1992, Joe stepped into a new era with Atlas Distributing, an Anheuser‑Busch distributor. As Route Manager, he oversaw grocery and convenience store accounts with the same steady hand and personal touch that had defined his Pepsi years.
When Atlas was purchased by Worth Harris of Harris Wholesale, Joe transitioned into the On‑Premise Sales Manager role. It was a natural fit. Joe thrived working in the hospitality industry—people, bars, restaurants, and special events—places where relationships mattered and his reputation for honesty and follow‑through made him a trusted partner.
Even as the company changed hands again and became Jeffrey’s Distributing, Joe stayed the course. He remained loyal, dedicated, and committed to serving his customers with excellence.
After 27 years in the Anheuser‑Busch distribution world, Joe faced something he had never experienced: job loss. When Jeffrey’s was sold, Adam’s Beverage chose not to retain him. For the first time in his career, Joe found himself walking away from a company without a plan for what came next.
But life has a way of opening the right doors at the right time.
As Joe walked out that day, his phone buzzed twice—two text messages from longtime competitors, Healy Wholesale, then owned by Mac and Fritz Healy. They didn’t hesitate. They didn’t wait. They reached out because they knew the kind of man Joe was.
And Joe knew exactly what that meant.
“God truly is good,” he says.
What began as friendly competition became a place of belonging. At Healy Wholesale, Joe found not just a job, but a home. Working alongside Brent Matthews and Paul Odom became one of the great blessings of his career. He speaks of them with deep gratitude and admiration, crediting them for teaching him, supporting him, and allowing him to finish his career with pride.
As On‑Premise Sales Manager, Joe experienced something rare and meaningful. The bartenders, managers, and owners he served didn’t just buy from him—they believed in him. Their loyalty created events, placements, and successes that made it look like Joe “sold it,” but he insists he didn’t.
“It was them,” he says. “Their trust, their appreciation, their generosity. They made me feel like a superhero.”
That humility is exactly why they trusted him.
If Joe makes it to the end of February, he will have spent 48 years in the beverage business—and, as he jokes, “he’s only 30 years old.” It’s a miracle indeed. But the real miracle is the impact he leaves behind.
Titles or territories do not define Joe’s career. It’s defined by the people he lifted, the friendships he built, and the respect he earned across an entire industry. From Fort Bragg to Fayetteville, from grocery stores to nightclubs, from Pepsi to Healy Wholesale—Joe has been a constant source of integrity, kindness, and professionalism. As he closes this chapter, Joe offers sincere gratitude to everyone who trained him, supported him, worked alongside him, and believed in him. He carries each of those relationships with him, and he credits them for shaping the man and professional he became.
His story is one of resilience, loyalty, and grace. It is the story of a man who showed up every day ready to work, ready to serve, and ready to make someone’s day a little better. And now, as he steps into retirement, the community he served for nearly five decades stands ready to honor him—not just for the career he built, but for the life he lived while building it.
(Photo: Joe Thigpen's 48 year career and retirement will be celebrated by the community on Feb. 15 at the Gates Four Country Club. For more information, see page 4. Photos courtesy of Bill Bowman)
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