By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

A new food option has opened in Verbena.

Ann’s Place opened last month serving up hamburgers, sandwiches, hot dogs, chili dogs and sides.

Owner Ann Hembree said her boyfriend and mother Deana Hebree were influential in helping her open on her birthday.

Ann said she and her mother work well together because they know what to expect.

While Ann’s Place is a walk-up order window, outdoor seating is available.

“I don’t serve anything I wouldn’t eat myself,” Ann Hembree said.

Since they are a locally owned, they try to support other local businesses.

“We try to use as much local produce as we can,” Deana Hebree said.

The catfish sandwiches use Alabama raised catfish.

“We do a hot hamburger, and that seems to sell really good,” Ann Hembree said.

Ann’s place hot hamburger features an 8 oz. ground sirloin, hand formed hamburger patty on top of half a bun covered with gravy, mushrooms onions and cheese.

Some of the side choices include fries, macaroni salad, coleslaw and fried pickles.

Ann Hembree’s favorite item on the menu is the cheeseburger. In addition to cheese, the burger comes with lettuce, tomato, mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, onions and pickles. Each burger is cooked to order.

She said she has enjoyed “meeting all of the people in my community.”

“We are happy to be here and love serving our community and hope to do it for years to come,” Ann Hembree.

The duo said they wanted to focus on quality of their food rather than expanding to a vast menu and having to “skimp on this or that.”

“I’ve always been interested in food and trying to cook it for the public,” Ann Hembree said.

Her first job in the restaurant industry was at Lydia’s cafe in Lucedale, Mississippi. Ann said a women she worked with was very particular about how the hamburgers were made. Even today, Ann Hembree follows that same style.

Plans for the future include having weekly specials and, hopefully, milkshakes.

Ann’s Place is located at 10973 County Road 59 in Verbena.