Landmark Hardeeville restaurant known for owner’s fried chicken closes after 30 years
Some came for the pork chops.
Others for the fried fish and crab cakes.
Or the chicken livers and gizzards.
Or the addictively delicious mac and cheese.
But it was the fried chicken - the really good fried chicken -that brought most folks back, regulars and visitors, some of whom were willing to cross international borders to eat it.
Whatever their favorite, they came day after day, year after year for three decades.
And while the food was the draw, something not listed on the menu at Hardeeville’s Gwen and Franny’s Fried Chicken was just as important and was served, free of charge, with every meal - a side of love, courtesy of owner and namesake Gwen Mervin.
Mervin, 62, officially hung up her apron and locked the doors for the final time Aug. 29.
Mervin said it was just the right time to retire.
She’s got her second knee replacement surgery scheduled soon, something she says was caused by working upward of 80 hours a week on concrete floors.
She’s excited about the prospect of good knees so she can dance and stay in step with her five grandkids, who are growing faster than she can keep up with.
She is, of course, a little sad.
“I really am going to miss my customers, though,” she said.
Mervin’s mom, Frances Jenkins, first opened the small restaurant located on Whyte Hardee Boulevard in 1991.
Mervin took it over in June 2008.
She didn’t make too many changes to the menu at first, but she did tweak the fried chicken a little.
“I added one ingredient to the recipe,” she said with a smile. That ingredient is a secret that will follow her into retirement.
Mervin says her cooking talent is one of her “gifts from God.”
As the fourth oldest of nine kids, she was helping cook dinner for the family by age 13.
Most all the dishes at the restaurant were made from scratch, which provided a delicious consistency.
Every time someone visited, Mervin wanted them to taste the same crunch from the fryer or seasoning in the crab cakes, whether they were there for the third time that week or the second time in a decade.
Because everyone who walked into the place was part of Mervin’s community.
She celebrated with them on the good days, prayed for them on the bad ones, and always had a hug and smile to share. Some of the younger folks in the area even call her “Mom.”
People traveling through noticed that love and that kept them coming back as much as the food did.
Mervin said people from all over the country have been to Gwen and Franny’s.
“I’ve even had return customers from Canada,” she said.
Regular out-of-towners would even bring her souvenirs, like one man from Florida who always made sure he brought some “real Florida oranges” on every visit.
When Mervin announced her plans to retire at the beginning of the summer, customers from near and far rushed in for their last plate of her cooking.
“It was pretty touching,” she said. “It took a lot to tell my customers I was retiring because I enjoy catering to them because they’ve been faithful for so many years. But I wanted them to know early on.”
Some of the regulars aren’t letting Mervin leave that easily, though.
She said she’s already had people calling to jokingly - but a little seriously - place orders for after she recovers from surgery.
“They’re already planning my future,” she laughed. “I tried to get away, but I don’t think I’ll be able to.”
That’s what happens when folks are fed by more than just good food.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 1:13 PM.
