Wild Annie’s: A Wild Ride
Written by Codi Brown
Anne Marie Hollinshead, a Washington state native, had always dreamed about owning
and operating her own restaurant. When Anne Marie was a senior in high school, her family
moved from Washington to California. Soon after she met her now-husband Eric, an active-duty
Marine at the time, and followed him back to his little hometown of Harrisonville, Pennsylvania.
They married in 1990 and soon after Anne Marie began running a successful catering business as
a stay-at-home mom to their two children, but the dream of owning a restaurant was always in
the back of her mind.
After their children were grown up and in high school, Anne Marie and Eric decided to
make the leap from catering to a food concession trailer to determine if they could first build a
clientele base for a future restaurant. The first hurdle that lay ahead was getting approved for a
loan. The first bank that the Hollinsheads approached for a loan turned them away. After
searching around, a second bank approved them for a loan and Anne Marie and Eric bought an
8x24-foot food concessions trailer.
The next hurdle that they had to overcome was finding a location for the trailer. The
Hollinsheads had decided that they did not want to pack up the trailer and travel to different
festivals, but instead find a more permanent locale to start their business. After searching for a
suitable location to no avail, they were eventually approached and offered a section in the
parking lot of another local business along Main Street in McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania.
Officially opening for business in April of 2013, Wild Annie’s was no longer a dream,
but instead a reality. As with any business, the first year was unpredictable. Initially, breakfast
was served, but business was so slow at that time that eventually Anne Marie began focusing on
lunch and dinner. With no advertisement for the new business, as Anne Marie believed that her
