Directory:MEATandTHREE.com
MEATandTHREE.com is an online directory that is devoted to cafes, restaurants and diners in the United States that serve a menu item consisting of one meat and three vegetables (or "sides"). These restaurants are commonly referred to as "meat and threes" and the typical "southern comfort food" they offer is often called a "blue plate special" or "daily lunch plate". The company's web site includes its own official definition of a Meat and Three, as defined by the company's founder, Phil Roberson, who calls himself "mn3guy". Viewers can navigate through the site geographically to find meat-and-three restaurants in 24 states, ranging from only one or two per state to more than 70 in some of the larger states. The web site includes links to its blog articles, whose purpose is to record the history and stories related to individual meat-n-threes. A photo tour of over 70 Middle Tennessee meat and threes was posted in early February 2007 on the site as well as in the Photo Gallery section of Nashville, Tennessee's About.com listing.
History
The web site's beginning came about through the founder's love for really good home cooking created by his mother, grandmother, wife and aunts, as well as the many trips to meat-n-three's enjoyed with friends and family. While working at a highly successful online directory of bed and breakfasts and country inns, Bed & Breakfast Inns ONLINE (www.bbonline.com), Phil created MEATandTHREE.com in late 2003 as a hobby site - something fun to spend some time on. BBOnline was started in 1995/1996 by one of Phil's neighbors, Randy Fought, who had a keen interest in B&Bs and was able to marry his programminga/analyst experience and capabilities with his B&B interest (along with his wife) to create BBOnline. The company was operated from home for a time, then moved to an office building in Madison, Tennessee, as it enjoyed steady growth year to year. Phil joined Randy's team in late 2000 as VP of Operations and helped to organize internal operations, manage staff, provide input, and help to grow the site along with Randy - becoming Randy's right-hand man.
Randy's love for meat and three restaurants also helped to fuel Phil's interest and creation of MEATandTHREE.com. In the back of his mind, Phil knew that he might develop the site into more than just a hobby. As time went on, and more and more meat-and-threes were discovered, it appeared to be moving toward becoming a real site. As luck would have it, BBOnline was eventually sold in early 2006 to Internet Brands, a leading operator of media and e-commerce sites headquartered in El Segundo, California. This sale allowed Phil the opportunity to transition the site from hobby to business, and the site is undergoing a transformation behind the scenes (updated March 2007) that will translate into more efficient and scalable capabilities for the benefit of its users and viewers.
The site's blog was created in October 2006. The idea is to provide an online journal, or ongoing historical record, of individual meat and three restaurants ... a place where the many stories and events and happenings and concerts associated with meat and threes can be consolidated in one place. Some items will be memories of the first trip to a meat-and-three, such as Phil's first trip to Hap Townes in Nashville back in 1980 (recorded in the blog's second entry); a songwriter may mention that she wrote a song on the back of a napkin while sitting in a meat and three; or a businessman might detail how a deal was struck at a table in an old meat-n-three diner over some fried chicken and a piece of chess pie.
In late January 2007, Phil began a tour of Middle Tennessee meat and three's to take photos of all the ones that he knew about as well as other ones he might discover. The list grew to over 70 and the Photo Gallery was added in early February 2007.
