One tasty food 'represents home' and family to former NFL player
Michael Lehan had never tried peach cobbler until the day he met his biological father.
Today, the former NFL cornerback is the owner of a Peach Cobbler Factory restaurant in Bradenton, Florida.
The inspiration to become an entrepreneur took shape while Lehan was still playing football, but his investment in a Peach Cobbler Factory franchise had everything to do with the memories of his father, who has since passed away.
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"My freshman year in college, I had the great opportunity of meeting my biological family," Lehan, who was adopted and spent time in foster care, told Fox News Digital in an interview. (See the video at the top of this article.)
On his first trip to Texarkana, Texas, in 2000, his biological family hosted a cookout with barbecue "and all this variation of food" that Lehan, who grew up in Minnesota, had never experienced, he said.
As he was being bombarded with "so many food options," Lehan stumbled upon a slice of peach cobbler.
"Never in my life had I had it before – and tasted it. 'Yum. Fantastic. What is this?'" Lehan recalled.
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"And then I said, 'Who made this?' And it was my father, Melvin, who made it. And he saw my response.
"And so that's really how it culminated into this thing of ‘every single time that Michael comes home, we want to make sure that he has peach cobbler.’"
Lehan said his father's "willingness to make peach cobbler as a point of emphasis every single time I came home" stood out through the years.
"That conveyed love, conveyed care," Lehan said.
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So many people who are adopted "haven't had the opportunity to meet their biological families, or their biological families didn't want to rekindle that relationship or establish that relationship," Lehan said.
"I'm so incredibly thankful that my biological family wanted to meet me and wanted to have a relationship with me – core memories that stick with me to this day," he said.
Lehan spent six seasons in the NFL from 2003-08 with the Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints.
He amassed 141 tackles, one sack, 12 pass deflections, one interception and one defensive touchdown.
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While he was in Cleveland, Lehan had a locker near Robert Griffith.
He remembers the financial advice that the Pro Bowl safety shared with him, encouraging him to invest in his 401k.
Lehan said he was fortunate to have so many "future-focused" colleagues around him in the locker room — which motivated him to prepare for life after football.
When the opportunity came to partner with the Peach Cobbler Factory, which opened its first location in 2013, and run a franchise, Lehan didn't hesitate.
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Lehan's Bradenton restaurant had its grand opening in January.
"It really started [with] this concept of 'peach cobbler represents home,'" Lehan said.
"It represents me meeting my biological family, the love and care that emerged through that relationship. And ultimately, that's what I want to extend to each of the customers [who] come into the Peach Cobbler Factory."
There's no better way to do that, Lehan said, than through peach cobbler.
"Maybe a cinnamon roll while we scoop out the middle of the cinnamon roll and put some peach cobbler in the middle," Lehan said.
"Maybe it's a brownie. Maybe it's banana pudding. Maybe it's churros. Maybe it's just a scoop of ice cream with some different toppings. We have all of those things."