Today we’d like to introduce you to Lee Wells.
Lee, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Growing up on a ranch, we would enjoy eating our own beef. Since we used so much ground beef, we would get our entire cow made into ground beef – steaks and all! It was the absolute best beef!
When we decided to offer our beef for sale to the public, we wanted to share the same whole-ground beef experience with everyone. After selling beef to the public for about a year, we opened the restaurant in downtown Rockwall, TX. Now we offer several specials each week and almost unlimited list of customized burgers. We also work hard of hand-cut fries and homemade desserts.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Nothing worth having is going to be easy. We expected struggles and challenges. One of our first struggles were negative reviews. They feel so unfair. Why couldn’t they have said something? We made the active choice to use every review as a way to learn something about ourselves. Once the sting wears off, we ask, what can we do to never have this negativity again – it has made us better. Another struggle in our industry is keeping quantity staff, and paying an overabundance of taxes. Taxes at every turn.
One of the most positive things that we have seen here is the acceptance of our community. Rockwall has so many small-town ideals still at work. It’s a great place to serve. Being in the historic downtown area is perfect for us. Our building is a converted home that was built in the mid-thirties. It fits us perfectly. It is also amazing to see people wearing our Wells hats and shirts around town and telling others online where to get the best burger. It’s wonderful to get to know families as they regularly frequent our restaurant. It’s like we become family.
Wells Cattle Burgers & Pies – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
As a rancher-owned restaurant, our goal is to provide the very best ground beef in the world. It all starts on our ranch. We raise and source the best grass-fed cattle we possibly can. Then we have our custom processor dry age our beef as if we were going to cut fine steaks, but then we grind all of those steaks to make whole-ground beef. That’s the secret. We do not sell steaks, prime rib, or briskets – we want all of that amazing flavor in our ground beef.
Once we have that whole-ground beef back from our butcher, we hand-form 5.33 ounces into the perfect size hamburger patty. When you order a burger at Wells, that meat is as fresh as any beef you have ever eaten. You can taste it in your first bite. We also invest time and effort in our perfectly seasoned hand-cut fries. We only buy the best potatoes. And then take them through five steps of prep and cooking to give the best seasoned fresh-cut fries we know how to make. We also specialize in scratch-made desserts. We make all of our meringue pies, peach cobbler, and brownies in house from old family recipes. We also offer scratch-made keto and gluten-free desserts. Finally, our atmosphere – We want you to feel like you were invited over to the Wells Ranch for dinner. We love to talk and laugh with our guests. It should feel good to eat good!
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
There have been many great things happen along this amazing journey. I may have to list a few.
– The day that someone said they saw two Wells hats at the State Fair of Texas on the same day.
– The day I was able to be “principal for the day” as a business leader with our local school district.
– The Four Best Burger awards and Five Best Restaurant awards.
– The countless birthdays, anniversaries, rehearsal dinners, pre-prom dinners, and date nights.
– Probably the many time’s people say that their burger was the best they have ever eaten in their life.
Contact Info:
- Address: 206 N. Fannin St.
- Website: www.wellscattleco.com
- Phone: 469-745-1625
- Email: Lee@wellscattleco.com
- Instagram: @wellscattleco
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wellscattleco
- Twitter: @wellscattleco
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/wells-cattle-co-burgers-and-pies-rockwall-4?osq=wells+cattleco
Suggest a story: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
