A new restaurant — and a steakhouse at that —  is coming soon to Locust!

Tom and Pam Granger are taking over the location of the now shuttered Fresh House on N.C. Highway 24-27 and will soon open Outfitters Steaks and Seafood. The Grangers are shooting to open sometime between mid-February and the beginning of March.

Originally from San Angelo, Texas, the Grangers moved to Mount Pleasant about two months ago to be closer to their family.

They decided to open a restaurant in Locust because Mount Pleasant already had a steakhouse with 73 and Main.

Tom, 56, drove by the N.C. 24-27 location many times and he saw the potential it had and he had several conversations with the previous owner.

“We just thought that this would be a great place to open a restaurant,” Tom said. “It seems like Locust needed a concept like this.”

As far as they know, this will be the first steakhouse in Locust.

“We’ve been just overwhelmed by the city with the support,” Tom said, “from city officials to just people stopping in and telling us they can’t wait until we open and they’re so thankful that we’re here.”

Tom and Pam have been busy working every day.

“We’re personally doing most of the work,” said Tom, which includes painting and redoing the floors and walls.

“It’s not going to look like the Fresh House anymore,” added Pam, 53.

The Grangers have plenty of restaurant experience.

Pam used to own the Mesquite Bean Café and Catering Company and was most recently the food service director for the First Baptist Church of San Angelo.

Tom has opened several Logan’s Roadhouses throughout Texas and was the general manager of the Logan’s in San Angelo. He also owned four Which Wich sandwich shops in the West Texas market. He has a degree in hotel and restaurant administration from Oklahoma State University.

Tom was a hunting guide in San Angelo and that’s where the name Outfitters originated.

The Grangers are going to play off the outdoors hunter concept.

“It’s going to be decorated in a lodge-type theme with several deer mounts and fishing poles and other outdoor activity stuff,” said Tom. “We are very outdoorsy people.”

A source of pride for the Grangers will be the oyster bar, which was built from scratch and will be “a showpiece” said Pam. Next to the bar will be the shuckin’ shack, where customers can actually watch their oysters being prepared. Customers can get the oysters raw, steamed or chargrilled.

The Grangers plan for the restaurant to have around 130 seats, with the oyster bar sitting another 12-15 people.

The restaurant will also be very casual.

For instance, the servers won’t actually be called servers, they will be called guides.

“They will guide you through the menu and through your evening,” said Pam.

Though the Grangers already have a local executive chef, Curtis Smith, who has a culinary degree from Johnson and Wales in Charlotte, they will also be in the kitchen helping to cook. Pam will help to run the front of the house.

“What brought us to North Carolina was God,” said Tom. “It was a very spiritual decision to come here.”

And they came here because they have a passion for helping people.

“Our whole lives are based on serving people,” the Grangers said. “We just love taking care of people…and we feel like that’s a gift that God gave us and we want to use that.”