Cameron restaurant receives preservation grant funds
An iconic Cameron business will soon be getting a facelift thanks to grant funds.
Cameron’s Tex Miller’s is being recognized with the $40,000 grant to preserve their history from American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Tex Miller’s was established in 1937 as a food truck and has since become a small restaurant faithfully serving its local community for eight decades. Customers reminisce about their grandparents taking them to the restaurant and love introducing new generations to the Tex Miller burger, which is made by smashing fresh ground beef with a concrete trowel. People travel from far and wide to experience these burgers and losing Tex Miller’s would mean losing a piece of Cameron forever.
The owners of Tex Miller’s will use the grant to make repairs such as replacing rotting wood and broken winds, as well as repaint the exterior of the restaurant. New signage will also be added to the restaurant and an outdoor seating area will be established.
In February, American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation rallied behind small historic restaurants owned by underrepresented groups by launching the Backing Historic Small Restaurants Grant Program. Twenty-five historic and culturally significant restaurants will receive grant funding.
As part of the grant program, American Express’ partners will also provide support to these historic small restaurants in areas their businesses need most: AT&T Business and Dell Technologies will each offer up to $5K to each awarded historic small restaurant for a collective total of up to $250K to spend on products and services for digital upgrades; Resy, a hospitality technology platform that is part of the American Express family, will offer complimentary use of ResyOS – its restaurant management software – for one year to each of the historic small restaurants selected to help streamline costs and boost restaurant operations; Main Street America will provide specialized technical assistance on small business marketing strategy for grantees, delivered through a series of three training webinars and Q&A “ask the expert” opportunities with UrbanMain Marketing Specialists; The National Restaurant Association and National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation will offer access to virtual educational tools and training to support the 25-awarded restaurants, as well as up to 75 restaurants that were nominated for the program; Ripl will provide one year free of their social media management services, Nextdoor will provide free media for restaurant promotion to their local communities, and Emerald Brand will provide a sustainable takeout packaging starter kit.