After 62 years of service, this mom-and-pop Gulfport burger restaurant is up for sale
After 62 years of made-to-order burgers and hotdogs eaten in the open air under a tin roof, a mom-and-pop Gulfport staple has been put up for sale, the owners have confirmed.
But the drive-through hangout’s shaded picnic tables will still serve patrons, at least that’s the plan until the restaurant off U.S. 49 is sold, said Kathy Wilson, co-owner and daughter of the restaurant’s original founder. Who’s to say after that, she said.
It has an unusual name: Rebel Dip. The asking price: $2 million.
“We love Rebel Dip, we really do,” she said. “But we’re moving to our next chapter in life. It was great living next to the Rebel Dip. We were never bored. We’d just go out and sit on the picnic table. But it’s getting harder and harder, we’re getting older and older.”
The decision doesn’t come easy for her and her sister. But there’s no one to pass the family business onto, she said. Between the two of them, they have four sons. But they’re already knee deep in their careers and can’t leave to take the helm at Rebel Dip.
And if the buyers want to keep on running Rebel Dip, Wilson said, she’d be happy to help the restaurant’s successors get settled and started.
But there’s nothing stopping a buyer from demolishing the whole thing, she added.
Wilson and her sister have worked at Rebel Dip since they were preteens – nearly 50 years now. They grew up in a house next door to the drive in burger joint which is included in the property’s asking price.
She said she enjoyed growing up next to the family restaurant because it never got old to live next to tasty food and family friends.
Rebel Dip’s origin
Joe Rouse, Wilson’s father and the restaurant’s founder, built the original building himself in 1962. She said there was hardly anything on U.S. 49 back then.
Rouse was a teacher and coach at Harrison Central High School farther up the street. The story goes, Wilson said, that the restaurant’s name comes from Rouse’s students, who named the restaurant for the school’s mascot, the Red Rebels, as their answer to the last question of a test Rouse issued as a teacher.
The menu started pretty basic, just some burger and sundae offerings. It’s since grown to include salads and po-boys.
The restaurant weathered Katrina and fared surprisingly well during COVID-19, given the drive through and open-air setup. Much of the restaurant’s operation has worked because of Wilson and her sister’s personal attention, she said.
Wilson said she plans on taking some time off and getting a lot of relaxing done after the restaurant is sold.
“Gulfport’s been good to us,” she said. “We’ve had one-on-one with customers for years – sometimes they even chat a little too much.”
