As the daughter of two restaurateurs, Rae Mosher had a decision to make when her parents chose to retire and possibly close their restaurant, Carrburritos, in 2017.
Mosher ultimately chose to keep the family business alive, despite her long career as a teacher at Chapel Hill High School, Carrboro High School and McDougal Middle School.
“I think I always knew that, since my sister moved to New York and I was the one to stay in Chapel Hill, it would be my destiny to take over the restaurant,” she said. “I am very proud of what my parents built and Carrburritos’ position in the community.”
William and Gail Fairbanks opened the original Carrburritos in Chapel Hill in 1997, parallel to Franklin Street, and a second location opened in Davidson in 2013. Mosher recently made the decision to expand the business further to Triangle Park’s Boxyard RTP, a new development in Durham.
Mosher said she had never envisioned herself going into the restaurant business as a potential career.
“The only reason I am in the restaurant business is that it was Carrburritos,” she said. “When my parents were looking at retirement, they considered selling the restaurant, and my heart couldn’t let them do it.”
Mosher graduated from Chapel Hill High School in 1997 and obtained her undergraduate English degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, after which she earned her Master in Teaching from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Because of her extensive teaching background, she said that she would consider becoming involved in education again in the future, if her busy schedule allows.
“If I get to a point where I am not so so busy with the restaurant, I can see volunteering with a program like Blue Ribbon Mentors or doing some tutoring,” Mosher said. “I love working with students and language, but I honestly don’t think I will ever go back into the classroom full time.”
She said she originally was looking to expand the business within Carrborro, but wasn’t able to find the right fit.
“We would like to be able to offer catering and perhaps offer more parking,” Mosher said. “We had put the expansion efforts on the back burner when the Boxyard project in RTP called me out of the blue.”
She said initially went into the conversation with members of the Research Triangle Foundation (RTF) with the mindset: “no new development, no RTP,” but they managed to change her mind.
RTF is creating Boxyard RTP, a small business oriented, non-residential town made entirely out of recycled shipping containers. This new community, located in the Research Triangle Park, will feature local restaurants and retail stores doing new and interesting things that will contribute to the growth of the community.
Mosher said she believes strongly in shopping locally and investing in one’s own community, which was part of the allure of RTF.
“I asked them if they were going to call Chipotle if I turned them down, and they said, ‘No! Local businesses only!’” she said. “That was speaking my language.”
She said that, aside from opening the new location in the Boxyard, she does have a few other smaller goals for the business.
“We would still like to expand our offerings to the Carrboro community as well by increasing our catering business, so we’re working on revamping our current space to make that possible,” Mosher said.
