Paul Wahlberg visits the OWA Wahlburgers location.

Photo by Jessica Vaughn

FOLEY - Paul Wahlberg, founder of Wahlburgers along with his brothers Mark and Donnie, stopped by the restaurant’s Foley location at OWA from Tuesday, Aug. 6 to Thursday, Aug. 8, and had some great things to say about his visit.

“This is my first time to OWA; it’s unbelievable,” Wahlberg said. “The job they’ve done here, the location, the feel, the look, everything, it’s awesome. And the service level has been so nice, it’s great.”

Though this was his first trip to the area, Wahlberg plans to be spending more time here in the near future. Now that the reality TV show Wahlburgers has wrapped, Wahlberg has more time to travel and plans to take advantage of the opportunity. He’s planning to return in October for the Shrimp Festival, and had special dinner and lunch meet-and-greets while visiting.

Wahlberg states OWA caught his and his team’s attention during development, and they knew they wanted to be part of it.

“This development was brought to our attention, and it was amazing,” Wahlberg said. “Once we got in and started looking at it and the beauty of the area, the people here, it just seemed like it was a good fit for us.”

The concept of Wahlburgers is to treat guests like family, with menu items created by the Wahlberg clan and marked with which dish is which family member’s personal favorite. A loyalty program is in the works for the location, as well as a special fall menu that will be announced soon.

Wahlberg is a classically trained chef and has been working in the field for over 30 years. While people may find his restaurants through his name, he states that’s not the reason that keeps them coming back.

“I don’t take this business lightly,” he said. “It’s important to me in terms of customer service, the quality of the food, everything. Each one of our burgers is thought out, it’s not just thrown together … It’s not just put our name on it and people will show up, we have to earn it every single day. The name will bring you in, but it’s up to us to bring you back.”

Everything that can be made in-house is made in-house, Wahlberg says, from the buns, to the specially blended burgers, to the sauces. He mentioned wanting to regionalize the locations slightly, adding menu items specifically for the areas housing the restaurants. Another big thing the Wahlburgers team promotes is community support, and the patio area can be rented out for fundraising events.

“We want to be part of the community, we don’t just want to show up in town,” Wahlberg said. “It’s important to us to have that place that if you’re doing a fundraiser, then you can count on us because we’re part of the neighborhood. That’s really what we want to be.”

For more information on Wahlburgers, check out their website at wahlburgers.com. Make sure to click to the Foley location for a localized menu.