A restaurant owner in Russellville, Arkansas, cleared the air after the name of his establishment – “The Crackhouse” – raised eyebrows on social media. According to KATV, the debate about the restaurant’s name started after an advertisement outside the Russellville City Mall was shared on Facebook.
The advertisement, which read, “Crack House Welcomes Tech Students Discount with Tech ID”, got some Facebook users questioning if the restaurant was actually selling drugs to students returning to school. But the restaurant’s owner, William Ford, said that is not the case.
“All I’m saying is I’m selling addicting food, that’s it,” Ford clarified. He also explained the genesis behind the recent controversy on social media. “How it started was, I had the maintenance man put on the marque to welcome the tech students back,” said Ford.
“Some guy jumped on there and said something is wrong with the community where they could put up ‘crack house’ and stuff like that.”
Ford in 2019 started his business in a food truck before recently getting space at the mall. He also said the reaction to his restaurant’s name isn’t something new. A Russellville resident who spoke with KATV also touched on her reaction when she first heard the name.
“When I first heard it, it was called the crack house. A restaurant named the crack house, okay? That is kind of funny,” Makayla Rollas said. Another resident, Anice Tedford, also said, “We did kind of go, ‘crack house? What is that?’ you know.”
Tedford also said she has tasted the restaurant’s food, and it is addicting. The names used to describe the meals the restaurant serves include crack-fish, crack-aroni, and crack-puppies.
