Mildred Council may have been known to the world by her childhood nickname, Dip (inspired by her long arms), but her reach has been so much longer.
Mildred Council died in 2018 at age 89 and today her children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren still work at the restaurant she built, Mama Dip’s Kitchen on Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill. And the Council family food businesses, all started with her encouragement and passion, are likely to continue on for years to come.
During the pandemic you could find Mildred Council’s daughter Spring, organizing takeout boxes filled with fried and barbecued chicken, sweet potatoes, corn and okra, chocolate and carrot cake. Spring Council and others from famed Southern restaurant Mama Dip’s Kitchen handed out free meals to those who needed them.
The meals were part of a community food drive made possible by former Carolina Basketball Coach Roy Williams. Under his leaderhip the UNC-Chapel Hill men’s basketball team competed in the Maui Invitational 2021. The tournament sponsor Camping World donated $3,000 for every made 3-pointer to the feeding initiative “Plating Change.”
Spring Council and her niece Erika Council
Anita “Spring” Council manages external relations and business affairs, working with the Southern Foodways Alliance, North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, the Town of Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau, and many civic and non-profit agencies that are dedicated to helping restaurants and residents.
Spring serves on the Diversity Committee of the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau and has worked to build a website committed to spotlighting local restaurants and diversity.
“My mother believed in the principle of “pull as you climb,” helping others to be successful. “She was the embodiment of that,” Spring says. “If you have the ability to let someone in and help them, use what you have to do that.”
”Mama always told us to hang in there and everything will be OK.”
Mama Dip’s Kitchen
408 West Rosemary St., Chapel Hill, NC 27516
(919) 942-5837
Hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 11:00 am – 7:00 pm
