LORMAN, Miss. (WJTV) – When talking about Mississippi exports, we have to talk about fried chicken. Not just any fried chicken, but Mr. D’s Old Country Store fried chicken in Lorman.

A food company in New York was looking for the next big thing, so they started surveying the internet to see which restaurant pages were getting the most hits.

That’s what happened to Arthur Davis, who takes on the persona of Mr. D at the Old Country Store in Lorman everyday where first thing in the morning, he fries up his grandmama’s recipe for fried chicken. The rest of the day, he serves it up on his buffet and then visits with his guests and does his best to make us all feel special before we leave.

“To have a young man come up to me and say, ‘Mr. D, my wife doesn’t want to leave before she gets a picture with you.’,” said Davis.

Mr. D has discovered that a picture here and there on Instragram gets shared, scattered around, maybe some that go viral, they all add up. It’s added up to an opportunity he’d never thought of, to take his grandmamma’s chicken recipe and go national with it. A fleet of food trucks in New York heard of Mr. D by searching to see who’s most popular on the internet.

“Really deep down inside when they first started, I was wondering of it was a hoax. To have somebody call you and want to buy your recipe. When I checked with my banker, I found out it wasn’t a hoax,” said Davis.

Mr. D’s picture will be on the side of every food truck, but it won’t be the same as having Mr. D there, singing to his guests and telling people go make sure they see Windsor and Rodney while they’re in the neighborhood and also telling hungry folks heading for the buffet that if they don’t think one platter will be enough, grab two. Not to feel sorry for the cook, the Old Country Store is more than a place to eat, it has become a place to say you’ve been to.

“To have a lady celebrate her 96^th birthday in here the other day and have her son say this was one of the things on her bucket list. She said before she died, she wanted to come to the Country Store. He made that happen,” said Davis.

So, good for New York. Within a year, they’ll get to taste Mr. D’s Best Fried Chicken in the World on Wall Street. But better for Mississippi, we have the chicken, and the flavor of the friendship and love Mr. D dishes up along with it everyday in Lorman.