Orsak’s B&B in Fayetteville

Terri McPherson’s grandchildren represent the fourth generation on her mother’s side of the family to attend Fayetteville ISD. Her roots run deep. She is a 33-year veteran of the Fayette County Power Plant where she works full-time and a 39-year veteran of Orsak’s Café, which she owns and operates.

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles about lodging in the Roundtopolis.

While it might seem logical to assume that the lodging business was a natural extension of the café, that doesn’t fully account for Terri’s passion for service in many forms. She has been a volunteer firefighter and EMT for 23 years. She is actively involved in organizing and hosting Lickskillet, one of Fayetteville’s annual festivals, the Fayette County Fair and the county’s Relay for Life, the annual walkathon fundraiser to fund cancer research, to name a few.

Active involvement doesn’t mean attending an occasional meeting. The night we spoke she was in the throes of planning a fundraising bass tournament on nearby Lake Fayette for Kids’ Unlimited, a program for child cancer patients at M. D. Anderson. The event will pair an ill child with a bass angler for a half-day tournament that includes a host of activities ranging from a barbecue lunch to “toy” train rides for the children who can’t get out in boats because of their health.

Sleep is often in short supply, but not enthusiasm for volunteerism or for hosting guests at the B&B. Orsak’s in Fayetteville is a two-bedroom/one-bath cottage, which has an expansive front porch just right for coffee drinking and breathing in the early morning quiet, and a full kitchen, is located just behind the restaurant.

“I like making people happy through service,” Terri said. “I was raised to believe that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us.”

Orsak’s B&B
126 N. Washington St.
Fayetteville, Texas 78940
979-250-1813

Owner: Terri McPherson
Founded: 2013
Structures: 1
Guest Capacity: 2 beds and a sleeper sofa that can accommodate 6.
Setting: Steps from the square in Fayetteville.
Special treatment: Guests at the B&B receive a food voucher redeemable at Orsak’s Cafe. Terri’s other lodging options: Fayette County Hills RV Park with 8 RV slips. Reservations at 979-702-0293.

Hospitality in a word (or three): “Simple human kindness.”

Not-so secret weapon: “A love of helping people. Making other people happy makes me happy.”

Best part of the biz: “The people part. I have a group of 80-year-old men who stay at the B&B three or four times a year. They call it their ‘bread and butter’ trip, and I do whatever I can to make sure that it can keep happening for them. It’s fun for me to see them having so much fun.”

Favorite hospitable sentence: “If I can ever do anything for y’all, just let me know.”

Welcome to the family: “My family—and they know this—always comes first no matter what. I have two daughters and an adopted son in Germany. When my girls were a lot younger, they wanted a brother. I was a single parent and thought, ‘How in the hell do I do this?’ So we arranged to have an exchange student from Germany. He lived with us a year and loved it so much that he wanted to go to college in the United States to study engineering. The only way he could stay was for me to legally adopt him, so I did. He got an engineering degree. My daughters got a brother, and I got a son who lives in Germany. And thanks to my kids now I have five beautiful grandchildren. Being a grandmother is the best gift ever . . . .”

Building a relationship business: “My goal is to make people happy not to take advantage of them. I had a customer at the restaurant once ask why I didn’t raise my prices during the antiques shows. I told him, ‘Because I have customers who support me 365 days a year—and I’m not going to charge them and my out-of-town guests more just because it’s busy.’ Same holds true for the B&B. It’s open year-round for the same price regardless of what is going on in town or in the area.”

Terri’s top three homegrown hospitality tips: “Be kind. Be helpful. Be yourself—don’t ever try to pretend you’re someone you’re not.”

by Lorie Woodward Cantu