Bill Farriss jokes that he’s been in the restaurant business since he was so small he had to stand on a milk crate to wash dishes.

But actually, it’s a true story. And after he graduated from the milk crate, one of his first paying jobs was working at Salt Works II on Wrightsville Avenue when he was 15 years old.

“I just always had a passion for restaurants,” he said.

Ten years ago, he started Farriss Hospitality in Carolina Beach to help the owners of Cape Fear region restaurants and other facilities buy equipment, design their spaces and get the permits they need to open their doors. Since then, his business has grown rapidly, to the point where his company has helped to design and facilitate hundreds of restaurants, he said.

Recently, the owners of some of the well-known Wilmington restaurants Farriss has provided services for have begun to franchise, including Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar; Charlie Graingers Hot Dog, Brisket and Barbecue restaurant; and pizza eatery Slice of Life.

Charlie Graingers officials announced its plans to franchise the business this year, and as of Aug. 12, according to a previous Greater Wilmington Business Journal article, said that the company had signed franchise agreements for more than 20 locations in six states. Shuckin’ Shack has also been busy setting up franchises, while Slice of Life is on
its way to doing the same.

“I work with a lot of vendors, and Bill’s follow-through is like no one else’s – follow-up and follow-through,” said Ray Worrell, owner of four Slice of Life locations throughout Wilmington. “He’s just on top of his game. Anytime I call him, he gets back to me immediately. And he’s very knowledgeable about the business, too, because he’s been doing it for a long time.”

Worrell, who is just in the beginning stages of establishing a franchising side of the restaurant he bought around 2004, said he expects to continue working with Farriss as Slice of Life’s presence grows in North Carolina. Worrell, too, has been in the restaurant business since starting out as a dishwasher in high school.

“For somebody starting out in the business, he can be invaluable as far as his expertise and his knowledge,” Worrell said of Farriss.

When he was in college, Farriss worked as a waiter at Beaches Restaurant at 2025 Eastwood Road, where Boca Bay is now. For five years, he sold point-of-sale systems to local and national chains until he realized what the future held.

“The industry started changing very quickly, and I decided to jump ship, stay in the restaurant business and sell everything but that,” he said.

At a conference in March in Atlanta, Farriss received the 2014 Rising Star Dealer award from NISSCO Restaurant Dealer Group, a nationwide network of independent, wholesale dealers of food service industry equipment and supplies.

He said he’s usually working on anywhere from six to nine commercial and/or institutional kitchen projects at one time. As a result, he works with health departments in counties throughout the Cape Fear region to help clients obtain permits and design their kitchen zones safely and effectively.

“We’ve always got things going on,” he said.

Farriss says what sets his company apart from others is Farriss Hospitality’s ability to guide a business through the rigorous permitting process new restaurants must undergo, all the way down to the specific details of each piece of equipment in their kitchens.  

“We do a lot more than just try to sell equipment. We are what I would consider to be a value-added company from the start of the process, through the middle, to the very end,” Farriss said.

His company worked on dining options at Cambridge Village, a newly opened resort-style community for residents ages 55 and older off Eastwood Road.

“We find that we’re doing a lot more with senior living facilities right now,” Farriss said.

In June, Farriss was working with those involved in bringing two new restaurants to town on redesigning the spaces that used to be Surfs Bar and Grill and Nino’s Pizza at 5500 Market St.

About two and a half years ago, Farris moved his company from Carolina Beach to Raleigh Street in Wilmington. Just as Farriss Hospitality has grown, so has Wilmington’s reputation as a popular place to dine.

In August, downtown Wilmington was chosen as “Best Al Fresco Dining Neighborhood” in a USA Today reader’s poll. According to USA Today’s website, a panel of experts picked the initial 20 nominees, and then the top 10 were determined by popular vote.

In more restaurant related recognition over the summer, websites Thrillist.com and Scoutology.com ranked several local establishments on their “best of” lists.

Farriss admits that he, too, is a foodie. He said he enjoys cooking at home, especially on the grill.

Restaurants aren’t the only customers Farriss serves. Recent clients have included Camp Lejeune and a high school in Columbus County, where Farriss helped the school replace walk-in coolers and freezers.

On the Farriss Hospitality website, a Pine Valley Baptist Church official described what it was like to work with Farriss on a church kitchen.

“He helped in the planning, the design, and was there during the construction phase. After the kitchen was complete, Farriss Hospitality held classes to train members of the church on proper use of the equipment,” said Larry Ball, who was chairman of the church’s kitchen committee.

Being there is a strength that Worrell has also appreciated as a customer.

“He’s constantly communicating with you,” Worrell said. “If he says it’s going to be here on Thursday, it will be here on Thursday … he’s a great communicator.”