The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce will honor 12 local business leaders at its inaugural Hall of Fame Wednesday.
The Daily Tar Heel will feature each of its inductees. Mildred Council will be inducted.
Mildred Council, better known as Mama Dip, started cooking when she was just 9 years old living on her family’s farm in Chatham County.
Years later, in 1976, she opened Mama Dip’s restaurant on Rosemary Street with $64 and some breakfast staples, hoping she would have enough money to buy food for lunch.
“I was getting into something I didn’t know how, but I did know how to cook,” she said.
Mama Dip left work that day with $135.
Since opening her restaurant, Mama Dip’s love of cooking and people has taken her far.
In 2002, she met former President George W. Bush in Washington, D.C., where she was named the fourth-best small businessperson of the year by the Small Business Administration.
She has been featured on Good Morning America, in The New York Times and has written two cookbooks.