
Nick Wright never expected to own a restaurant, especially not one as beloved as Herman’s Ribhouse in Fayetteville.
Wright, 48, started working at Herman’s 27 years ago as a dishwasher for Herman Tuck, who founded the restaurant in 1964. Wright later became the restaurant’s cook — he is still the only cook at the place — before buying Herman’s with his wife, Carrie, in 2013.
It was never his plan, though, until Don Tyson of Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale suggested it to then-owner Shelby Rogers in 2006. Nick Wright had been running the restaurant for Rogers and partner Benny Spears since 2000; Spears died in 2005. Tyson died in 2011.
“Don sat her down at that table — me, her and Don — and he said he wanted her to keep it as long as he was alive,” Wright said. “He said when I die, you make sure Nick gets it. I was already running it. For me, it was an honor. That wasn’t even in my mind. Never, ever thought I would own this.”

Owning it has been both the blessing of his life and a headache, as most restaurant owners would understand. Wright is in his natural element in a kitchen, cooking up steaks, hamburgers and ribs.
The rest of the business he leaves to Carrie, who oversees the nuts and bolts of the operation and is the dining room hostess. The Wrights, who declined to share the price they paid for the restaurant, paid $529,000 for the property in 2016.
“I’ve been here 27 years and it is harder now than it has ever been,” Nick Wright said.
The restaurant business is a difficult industry in the best of circumstances, but it was dealt a brutal blow by the COVID-19 pandemic. Herman’s was not immune, and it is feeling the aftereffects years later.
Business hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels and is probably 75% of what it was, the Wrights said. Annual revenue the past couple of years has been approximately $1 million. The Wrights employ 13 servers and crew.
“We aren’t doing as much business as we used to, so we can’t afford to have as many people as we used to,” Nick Wright said. “That takes away from the service. This place is known for good food and really good service. We still have really good food, but we are not staffed to the ‘T’ anymore.
“First, it is getting people and then paying them. It’s hard to get good people, and when you get them, you have to take care of them. It’s hard to guarantee them the money we used to could.”
‘This Is a Lifestyle’
Nick Wright said he would cook at Herman’s forever if he could, but Carrie Wright is less entrenched.
She met Nick at Herman’s, where she was working part time. Her full-time job was working at a pathology office that studied surgically extracted tonsils for signs of disease and cancer.
Nick fell for her at Herman’s and the two were married at the restaurant in 2009. When they took over the restaurant, Carrie left pathology to work full time at Herman’s.
“It’s 24-7. My phone never stops ringing,” Carrie Wright said. “Two, three in the morning, someone will send me a message about catering. This is a lifestyle. It has been great. We met a lot of people.

“We have been very successful. This is every day all day long. We have grandkids. I’ve seen the grandbaby twice, and he was born in August.”
Herman’s customers are almost family. Wright said some of the same people have been coming to the 65-seat restaurant regularly since he was first a dishwasher in the back of the store.
The walls of the modest 2,000-SF white-frame building at 2901 N. College Ave. are adorned with photos of some of the area’s rich and famous. The Tysons, the Georges, former athletic standouts at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville are all pictured.
As soon as Herman’s opened for lunch one recent Friday, the room quickly filled with customers finding seats at tables with white-and-red-checked tablecloths. Carrie and Nick greeted many by name.
“These customers, most of them, have been coming here since most of the employees have been alive, longer than I have been alive,” Nick Wright said. “They were here when I started. This is their place, and that’s how they feel. Yes, if something happens to it while I’m running it, it’s pressure. I’m not Nick, I’m Nick from Herman’s. That is what I get everywhere I go.
“There is pressure. When people come in here and something is not right, they’re going to look at me and my wife.”
Life After Herman’s
Herman’s is open for lunch and dinner from Wednesday through Saturday; even with it closed three days a week, there never seems to be free time for the owners.
The Wrights own a farm where they raise pigs, chickens and rabbits. The couple have three children between them and grandchildren. What they don’t seem to have is time.
“We celebrate birthdays for everybody,” Carrie Wright said. “We do all their special occasions. Our kids don’t think birthdays are big because we’re here working on their birthdays for everybody else. I’m ready to be me and take care of my family.
“It’s seven days a week. We may only be open Wednesday through Saturday, but it is seven days a week. We have done that to ourselves. I’m ready to enjoy the grandbabies.”

Nick Wright understands his wife’s feelings and the sacrifices she has made for him and the restaurant.
“Once you own it, you realize if you’re putting too much meat on that sandwich, it is costing you money; if you don’t come to work, your employees don’t make money,” Nick Wright said. “Now these are my employees. It really got real. If I don’t walk through them doors, no one makes any money because I’m the only cook. I realize quickly this is not just my job anymore. This is my life.”
Nick Wright said the couple has thought of when they sell the place to the next generation of owners. Herman Tuck did it when he turned the business over to Bruce and P.J. Barnes in 1990; Rogers and Spears bought the restaurant in 2000.
In its long history, the restaurant has not advertised, except for some promotions this year to celebrate its 60th anniversary.
“The word of mouth is what makes it so great to me,” Nick Wright said. “The only way you can find out about us is if someone tells you about us. If they keep coming back, you know you are doing something right. They ain’t just coming to give me their money just because.”
Star-studded Restaurant
Nick Wright has owned Herman’s Ribhouse in Fayetteville since 2013 and has worked there for 27 years. He’ll feed anyone, but some customers stand out from the crowd.
“One of the best days I had working here was when Oscar Robertson and John Thompson walked in the back door,” said Wright, referring to an NBA Hall of Famer and the former Georgetown basketball coach. “I’m at the grill cooking, and it blew my mind.
“The second is when Scottie Pippen walked through the front door. Things like that, I’ve seen a lot here. I’ve gotten to feed presidents and all kinds of stuff.”