Updated Nov. 1 at 5:08 p.m. The Back Porch closed Oct. 28.

For Dan and Susanna Parrott, The Back Porch is much more than a restaurant at the intersection of N. RM 620 and Lake Creek Parkway.

“It’s like having a baby,” Susanna said.

The Back Porch, which opened Aug. 1, 2017, sources both locally and around the world for the best ingredients. The burgers are made from premium beef and freshly ground twice daily, house bakers make the dough, buns and desserts.

Dan said if they cannot pronounce an ingredient, it will not go in the food.

Opening restaurants is nothing new for Dan.  He worked in the service industry for 45 years and opened 62 previous eateries when he worked for Hilton, Hard Rock Café and TGI Fridays.

Although The Back Porch cannot be easily seen from the street, the location makes it easy to get a wide variety of customers because of nearby apartment buildings, families at nearby homes or the lunch crowd from local businesses.

“We’re here to make sure people have a good time; we want them to leave delighted,” Dan said.

Dan credits Susanna’s energy for helping spread the word about The Back Porch and help bring people in.

“There’s just a lot of people that don’t know about us and I think that if they did, they wouldn’t go to chain restaurants,” Susanna said.

Dan said when he started in the service industry, most restaurants were independently owned, but as the systems for getting food to people improved and franchises popped up, the personalities of eateries faded.

He plans to keep his business model going whatever the future may bring.

“Whether it’s one or 20, I want to do the same thing I do now: Have people walk in the door, leave with a smile and know we had a lot to do with putting that there,” Dan said.

The Back Porch 12233 N. RM 620, Ste. 104, Austin 512-428-4047 http://backporchaustin.com/indexs.php Hours: Open daily 11 a.m.-midnight