Café Owner Latisha Beall is offering a fresh, new spin on café favorites at her new eatery, Eclectic Café.

The Poplarville restaurant offers a plethora of homemade soups, custom-made salads and sandwiches, all of which are freshly prepared inside Beall’s kitchen. The Poplarville native opened the café nearly a month ago after earning her stripes in the food and beverage industry.

“Opening a restaurant was something I’ve always wanted to do, so I decided to just do it,” Beall said.

After graduating from Pearl River Community College with an associate’s degree, Beall earned her bachelor’s in tourism management at the University of Southern Mississippi in 2009. Once she graduated from USM, Beall worked in various hospitality venues across the southern region, including the Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans and the Marriott in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she worked in the food and beverage department. When she moved back to Mississippi, she worked as a food and beverage manager at the convention center in Hattiesburg before moving back home to Poplarville.

“When I got here, I realized there weren’t that many places to eat around here that provided healthier options so I decided to give it a go,” Beall said.

The slogan of the café is “Healthyish. Funky. Fresh.”

Beall said it’s “healthyish” simply because it depends what customers order from the menu.

The café offers lunch options such as create-your-own salads, homemade soups such as broccoli and cheddar soup, wraps and sandwiches such as her customers’ favorite, pimento cheese Panini. She even sells cups of her homemade pimento cheese at the café due to its popularity.

Beall prides herself on the freshness of her food, right down to the freshly baked sourdough bread she purchases from New Orleans.

“To me it’s about keeping it fresh and mixing it up and doing something different,” Beall said. “I fully believe that if you’re going to make a sandwich, you should make it the best sandwich possible.”

Beall said the café wouldn’t be possible without the help of her family and friends.

“Other than that I do most of everything on my own. I’m married to my business,” Beall said.

When it came to naming her restaurant, Beall was inspired by her own eclectic personality. After living in different places and experiencing a variety of culinary styles, she thought it best to bring a little eclecticism into Poplarville.

“Eclectic is a variety of things mixed into one and it really describes me and my life and I hope to bring that to my meals,” Beall said.

In the future, Beall hopes to grow the business by offering catering services and using her café as a venue for private parties. She also plans to someday open a second location near the coast.

Beall posts daily café specials on the restaurant’s Facebook page found at Eclectic Café and on Instagram at eclectic_cafe.

The restaurant is located at 300 Highway 11 in Poplarville and is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For to-go orders, customers may contact the restaurant at 601-746-5200.