Chip Gaines Said Joanna Gaines ‘Ruined’ the Magnolia Restaurant
Chip and Joanna Gaines are more than just the ultra-successful faces behind HGTV’s Fixer Upper. They now own their Magnolia empire, which includes real estate, businesses, and a restaurant in Waco, Texas. Joanna has her cooking TV show, Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines, and she once explained why Chip said she “ruined” their restaurant.
When did Joanna Gaines start Magnolia Table?
Chip and Joanna Gaines opened Magnolia Table in 2018. The Fixer Upper couple started the restaurant where one of two locations of the famous Elite Cafe in Waco, Texas, once stood. The Elite Cafe, which first opened in 1919, closed after a tornado ripped through the town in 1953, according to the Magnolia Table website. Chip and Joanna then bought the second location so that Chip could have a breakfast restaurant. The couple hoped to preserve the history of the original diner.
Magnolia Table is open Monday to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and breakfast is served the entire time. The menu includes Joanna’s famous buttermilk biscuits, snickerdoodle donut holes, pancakes, French toast, egg plates, breakfast sandwiches, and much more. The restaurant also serves pie by the slice like a traditional diner and ice cream sundaes with various custom Magnolia ice cream flavors and homemade chocolate sauce.
Why Chip Gaines once said his wife ‘ruined’ Magnolia Table
Chip and Joanna Gaines are incredibly proud of their accomplishments. But Joanna once said that Chip said she “ruined” Magnolia Table.
Joanna Gaines shared the story while making her French Toast Crunch on an episode of Magnolia Table. “Chip is the breakfast guy in the family, and I remember, I’ll never forget, we were all in a meeting one day at Magnolia and Chip walks in and is like, ‘Guys, we’re gonna do a restaurant,'” Joanna shared while dipping the bread. She then explained that she and Chip thought about the possibility and decided a breakfast spot would work well.
It seems Chip and Joanna had different aesthetics in mind for Magnolia Table. “He says I ruined, it, though, when I made it all pretty,” Joanna continued. “He wanted it a little bit more like a dive. He says I made it fancy the second I added avocado toast to the menu.”
Do Chip and Joanna Gaines still have their restaurant?
As of early 2023, Chip and Joanna Gaines still own Magnolia Table. With that said, the couple’s role in their Magnolia businesses may change.
“I sense it’s coming,” Joanna said in an interview with Today. “I don’t even know what it is, but I do feel like my heart — like instinctively, I know I’ve got to prepare.” She then said now that she’s 44, she feels like she’s “stepping into a new season. Joanna wants more intentionality with her plans. “Like, I have half my life, it’s been great, but now I want to really be intentional about what I carry with me as I move forward,” she continued.
“Life is moving so fast, and for me, I think the biggest thing is just embracing this moment as a mother, as a wife, and then even with Magnolia, that feels like our baby,” Joanna added.
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