Located right off Benton Road is a green-and-white building packed with flavor. Po’Girls Sandwich Shoppe, owned by Misti Chance, is loaded with southern hospitality and cooking, making it well worth the drive. 

Misti moved from Shreveport to join her brother in Benton and decided to take the leap of faith to open Po’Girls in August of 2024. Since then, the town has rallied behind her, and she’s been serving sandwiches, salads, and soups ever since. 

“Honestly, everyone’s been so nice,” Chance said. “I’ve really bonded with our customers and my ‘po’fam.’” 

When asked about the inspiration behind the name of this hidden gem, Misti says, “You’ve got po’boys, why not name it po’girls?” 

Chance has a staff of 8 employees, many of whom she’s had from the very beginning. Her staff’s impact on Chance is not lost on her as she gets teary-eyed talking about them, but it’s also evident in the positive attitude of her staff; even the “po’babies” that flew the nest to go to college who come back to visit because of the lasting impact they’ve had from working at Po’Girls. 

“We’re mostly po’girls here,” she laughed. “We call everything po…po’fam, po’girls. We just thought it would be fun.” 

The lively personality and fun atmosphere of Po’Girls has been supported by the Town of Benton, but she admits that the beginning of opening a new business does come with its own set of challenges. 

“It’s always scary at the beginning because you don’t know all of your systems and you don’t know what’s going to work or not,” Chance explained. “It’s a lot of tweaking and figuring out what’s going to go over good or not good and what needs changing to suit your clientele.” 

At the beginning of any new business opening, it’s common to have a lot of traffic, and with most of her staff not having any restaurant experience, it was a definite leap of faith for Chance. 

“Everyone wants to go and come to the new place,” she recalled. 

With the staff she prayed for, she’s been doing it successfully ever since. The continued support is important to keep those doors open and sandwiches slinging. 

Chance says the most popular sandwich on the menu is called the French Quarter Philly. 

“It’s like a play on a Louisiana Philly sandwich,” she explained. “It’s got jalapenos, bell peppers, black olives, melted cheese, and onions. It’s really good and made with roast beef.” 

Her personal favorite is the JuJu Turkey Melt. This sandwich has turkey, bacon, melted white cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato, and a touch of mayo guaranteed for “some ‘good juju’ for sure!

Those two are highly recommended to newcomers as well as the “Timbo Po’Boy” which is a roast beef, turkey, and ham sandwich topped with melted cheese, onions, bell peppers, jalapenos, black olives, and mayo and served with a “Cup A Dat Good Gravy” on the side. 

All menu items can be made on the po’boy bread, or if you want to kick it up a notch, they offer a sweet jalapeno bread. 

Chance fully believes growth comes from discomfort, and it’s always worth going for it and taking that leap. Thanks to that decision to jump headfirst into becoming a small business owner, she’s been able to continue to impact her community and her “po’fam.” She also admits they’ve impacted her and she’s forever grateful.

“We appreciate it,” she said. “I just feel so blessed. It’s a challenge. I feel like I’m here 24/7. Day and night, ya know? But as I said, we’re a family up here. We share each other’s lives.” 

If you want to give Po’Girls a try, you can order online at www.pogirlsandwichshoppe.com or call 318-393-0173. You can also order through their drive-thru or walk-up counter, where they have seating available on their patio.