Now in his 26^th year with the business, Des Arc’s Steve Mapps pretty much has the routine down for running the Sno-White Dairy Bar, a decades-old staple in the Prairie County town of just under 2,000.

Mapps, a former Walmart manager where he learned a lot about customer service, said the service his restaurant provides is personal.

“Every person who comes in here, we treat them like family. We ask, ‘Hello, how are you?’ We make sure we speak to everyone that comes in the door and we tell them thank you when they leave,” he said.

In addition to the service, the dairy bar offers a variety of great food including burgers, fries, onion rings, and of course, a good milkshake.

“It’s just what they had when they were kids years ago, a good old fashioned dairy bar,” he said.

But the star attraction is the barbeque.

“We’re famous for our barbecue, which we’ve been doing this barbecue the same way since they began the business in June of 1954,” Mapps says in reference to the original owners.

He bought the Sno-White Dairy Bar in 2000 from the Donald Guess family, which purchased it around 1964-65.

“It was known for their barbecues. Barbecues, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, the old-fashioned malt, milkshakes, ice cream, just the old-fashioned dairy bar. What the dairy bar used to do back in the 50s, 60s, 70s,” said Mapps. “Then we bought it in 2000 and we’ve continued that same tradition. We use the exact same spoons that they handed to me to make the sauce, which I make here from scratch. I make the slaw here from scratch, too. I do it all right here.”

The Sno-White’s regulars range from farmers and families to students and seniors. And there is the everlasting appeal to deer and duck hunters who come through the area searching for a tasty meal in a cozy atmosphere.

Mapps worked for years for Bentonville-based Walmart. When he was up for a promotion to Washington, North Carolina, he decided relocating was not going to be the priority this time around. His parents were aging and he wanted to stay close to them.

He had already opened a donut shop in Des Arc, and after selling it ran a John Deere store near Searcy. He wanted to make more money, so he reapplied to return to Walmart. The retail giant wanted to move him to Franklin, Tennessee, but fate stepped in before he gave Walmart an answer.

“Mr. Donald [Guess] called me and said that he was ready to retire and would I be interested in purchasing the Sno-White. We met and talked and then we purchased it, and here we are,” he recalls.

For more than two-and-a-half decades, the restaurant has provided. It’s had its challenges, Mapps said. Finding good staff with a strong work ethic is more and more scarce in younger workers. Rising costs for food and overhead also strain keeping the operation viable year-over-year.

His daughter, Lauren, who also operates the wedding venue destination Grandview, helps regularly at the Sno-White. Mapps’ wife, Tonya, is a registered nurse in labor and delivery for Baptist Health. His son, Trevor, is vice-president of Jetton Construction of Jonesboro.

Mapps doubtfully has another 26 years of Sno-White in him. He’s about to become a grandfather again, and he has other interests, including his farm and cattle. But he knows the Guess family left the restaurant in his capable hands, and when the time comes, he will feel the same responsibility to leave the Sno-White in a good place.

“I know when the time comes to pass the torch, I’ll want to leave this restaurant in the best hands I can. It means a lot to this community and that means a lot to me,” he said.