The Story Behind the Restaurant Serving the Last Meals of Serial Killers like John Wayne Gacy and Ted Bundy (Exclusive)

Macabre meals are on the menu at Nate Thompson’s and Raychel Eastes’ restaurants.

The couple is cooking up true crime-inspired meals at The Last Meal, a restaurant serving up death row prisoners’ final meals before their executions.

The original location in Galion, Ohio (a second location is coming to Michigan later this year) serves up a menu of “historically accurate” infamous criminals’ final meals. For example, customers can order items like The John Wayne Gacy, which comes with a fried chicken, fried shrimp, strawberries and French fries, or The Aileen Wuornos, a smash burger with cheese and onions and a cup of coffee. Ted Bundy denied a special dinner so he was given the “traditional” last meal, which is why The Ted Bundy comes with steak, eggs, hashbrowns, toast with butter and jelly and three drinks: coffee, milk and juice.

Thompson, 29, told PEOPLE that he thinks customers come to The Last Meal for their natural curiosity of morbid topics.

“People just really love, and have always loved, being as close to fear and danger as possible without actually being there. So as long as they have that safety net and they can see it up close, it’s almost kind of like a sideshow attraction from back in the day. It’s getting as close to the two-headed man as possible without him biting you, so to speak,” he explained.

Before The Last Meal came to be, the Michigan-natives opened up the Michigan Museum of Horror after realizing the area’s massive horror-fan population.

“There’s a huge group of horror fanatics in this part of Michigan, and we just don’t really have an outlet to be able to immerse ourselves that much,” Thompson said. explaining that he and fiancée Eastes, 33, created the museum first but always had the idea to expand into a restaurant. “It was something that was so high on the shelf because at that time, other than working as a prep cook or what-not at places when I was younger, I don’t have the most professional experience in a restaurant, but I do love cooking.”

The culinary dream became reality when they traveled to Ohio to find a space for their second Museum of Horror: “That Ohio property was so perfect that I think it was fate telling us that it was time to finally do it, and here’s where we start,” he explained. 

Now, they serve a “wide variety of customers” a range of sandwiches and meals like the aforementioned options along with desserts and snacks, like The Timothy McVeigh (two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream), inspired by the death row inmates’ choices. There are also drinks and sides, like Bundy Fries.

The range of visitors is what they are “most grateful for,” Thompson explained. “Initially you think this is probably going to be only for people that are into weird things that are maybe like you, like your age or age range. And then you realize you’re seeing grandparents come with their grandkids and then you’re like, ‘wow, so this is a universal thing.'” Another location of The Last Meal is set to open in the spring in Monroe, Michigan, the same city as the Michigan Museum of Horror. 

The Michigan outpost will have the popular choices from the Ohio spot but also some menu items exclusive to the location. “Our goal is that when you go to the different locations, that there’s something new, both in the museums that you can see and then also in the food that you can try,” he said. But, with both locations, the couple strives to bring some good out of their sales and donate a portion of their annual sales to foundations connected to the crimes. 

Thompson explained, saying that he wishes critics of the businesses understood their intentions: “I want them to understand that we come from a good heart and we want to do this in the most respectful way possible.”

“We don’t want to highlight the crimes they committed, but it is history and we want to, almost like a documentary, we want to get you as close to understanding the last moments or the last meals of these people,” he explained. “We don’t really want to exploit any victim’s names or show any gruesome pictures or anything like that. We’re trying to be as tasteful as possible with an idea that will definitely ruffle people’s feathers.”