MORRISON — As an art teacher, it’s Jamie Harmon’s job to be creative, so when she was looking for a name for her family’s business, she knew she wanted something clever and catchy that would stick in people’s minds — like peanut butter to the roof of your mouth.

She didn’t have to look far. It was right there between a couple slices of bread.

The Harmons are the family behind Peanut Butter and Deli on Morrison’s Main Street, a deli-style restaurant where she and husband Paul and their son and two daughters serve up sandwiches, salads, drinks and desserts from one of Morrison’s oldest buildings — and one of it cleverest named businesses.

“Being an art teacher, I just couldn’t let it be boring,” Jamie said. “We were talking about the word ‘deli’ and what rhymed with it. We were going through it and it came to ‘jelly.’ We thought about that and I was like, ‘How about Peanut Butter and Deli?’ I thought it would catch attention. So there it stuck.”

For Jamie and Paul, who own the restaurant and building, investing in Morrison and responding to what residents wanted in their hometown was important to them as they considered opening a business. When the town’s Subway closed a couple of years ago, they looked for a way to fill the void, while bringing their own spin to the local restaurant scene. In December 2023, they brought their menu to Morrison, and put more than a few grins on people’s faces with a name that sounded good enough to eat.

Gracen Harmon, Jamie and Paul’s oldest daughter, manages the business and her sister Landri and younger brother Cort work with her. Landri is in college, and working in the family business helps pay her way through school; Cort is in junior high and helps wherever needed when he’s not in school. Pauls’s mom Bev also helps out, making the deli desserts. Rounding out the crew are a couple of high school girls who work part-time.

Gracen enjoys taking on a leadership role at the family business and working with her siblings.

“It’s been fun working with my family, and providing job opportunities to the girls in a fun environment to work,” Gracen said. “Although I get to boss around [my brother and sister], it’s great to work with them. It’s great to see all of the kids come in, and that’s one of my favorite parts about it. I get to see a lot of Cort’s friends come in, and some of Landri’s friends come in, and we’re able to have a lot of fun.”

The sandwich menu includes a turkey club, ham and cheese, chicken salad, roast beef, and The Big Red Rumble sandwich, named after a cheer that’s popular at the high school’s sports events, with roast beef, turkey, ham and American cheese. Breakfast options include egg and cheese sandwiches with either ham or bacon, or served plain. Paninis are part of the sandwich fold, with a grilled cheese and a stuffed crust pizza-like sandwich with pepperoni, Mozzarella and red pesto sauce. Every now and again, the Harmons will come up with a sandwich special as well. Sandwiches come on white sourdough or wheat berry bread, and any sandwich can be made into a wrap instead.

And of course, the sandwich selection wouldn’t be complete without a nod to the name of the business: The peanut butter and jelly comes with a choice of grape, strawberry, or the Harmon’s own “Deli Jelly” of a cream cheese and raspberry mix.

Salads include a Caprese, grilled chicken and a side salad. Pasta and potato salads also are on the menu, as well as desserts such as parfaits, muffins, cinnamon rolls and occasional specials, courtesy of Grandma’s home cooking.

“It’s more of a fun, refreshing take on some of the classic sandwiches and sides, with some sentimental homemade aspects on it as well,” Gracen said. “We try to do something new each month if we can.”

The Harmons also have brought Dole Whip to town and offer it as a dessert with a different flavor each day. Dole Whip is a fairly new dessert offering to the Midwest. The gluten- and dairy-free treat is a cross between Italian ice and gelato, with a thick texture. Its name comes from the strawberry and pineapple flavors that come from the Dole fruit company.

As for the drinks, regular, iced and frosted coffees are among the top sellers, as well as fruit smoothies and splash drinks, which are refreshing flavored waters with no caffeine. The drinks have become popular with customers, and have even share equal billing with the sandwiches.

“The new thing that I did not imagine was going to be so crazy were the drinks,” Jamie said. “The smoothies and the splash drinks have been crazy. The frosted coffees and our specials, too. I never imagined this as a drink place, I always just thought sandwiches and a fun little environment, and all of a sudden it has become quite a bit of fun.”

Bringing business and family together in their community is important to the Harmons. Jamie’s parents, Steve and Julie Belschner, once owned The Clothes Depot, a clothing and screen printing business, elsewhere on Main Street, and Jamie worked there as a teenager. Gracen is working with her grandfather to try and resurrect the business in the future; she’s already designed the staff’s shirts for the restaurant as well as Peanut Butter and Deli apparel they sell.

Getting to see her children experience the same community connection that she did years ago is a special thing to her, Jamie said.

“I like the feeling that it gives me from when I was young, having worked in my parents’ shop,” Jamie said. “Having something open and coming up with different ideas, it just brings back those memories for me.”

The Harmons also own rental properties in town, including the second floor above their business. The building dates back to 1855, not long after the railroad was built through town, and has housed several stores and bakeries through the years. Jamie and Paul got hooked on in its history when they bought the building, and enjoy sharing it with customers. Reproductions of old Whiteside News-Sentinel ads hang on the on the walls featuring businesses once housed in the building.

They’ve found that their customers have a taste for history too, Jamie said.

“A lot of people in Morrison love that when they come in. We’ll hear them out here eating lunch and they’ll be talking about coming here to Carpenter’s Bakery. We went to the Courthouse and figured out who owned the building all the way back to 1855, and figured out what businesses were here in it. Then we went to the library, got on the microfilm machines, and found advertisements that were in the newspaper.”

Pictures aren’t the only place where the walls talk about the building’s history. When they were remodeling, portions of the building’s original brick walls that had been exposed were left that way, cleaned off and edges smoothed, a nod to the building’s history.

“Being in an old building and finding some of these old things, to see all of that, it was interesting,” Paul said. “There were old fixtures and wallpaper hidden behind some of the stuff on the walls. There was stuff that’s been here since forever ago.”

For Jamie, entrepreneurship isn’t just a source of income, it’s a source of pride rooted in family tradition, born from the cherished childhood memories of the time spent in her parents’ downtown shop. Now she gets to share that with her own family and her community.

“Our story kind of starts when I was a kid because my parents owned a store downtown,” Jamie said. “I just knew that it was something that we wanted to do and have my kids have that same experience.”

Running a business with her family, supporting the community and celebrating its history. For the Harmons, their business has allowed them to bring the past and present together — a combination that goes together like peanut butter and jelly.

Eat up!

Peanut Butter and Deli, 119 East Main St. in Morrison, is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Find it on Facebook and Instagram, go to peanutbutteranddeli.com or call 815-400-9024 for more information.