Drexell & Honeybee’s re-opens Tuesday

 Drexell & Honeybee’s re-opens Tuesday 

After a three-month ‘sabbatical’ Lisa Thomas McMillan is ready to serve the hungry masses.
Drexell & Honeybee’s Donations Only Restaurant opens their doors on Tuesday after taking some time off to re-charge. The restaurant opens at 11 a.m.
“I am glad to be back,” McMillan said. “I probably won’t ever take that much time off again. It’s tough to get back into the swing.”
McMillan is getting back into the swing with meal prep and serving with the help of some new faces at the restaurant.
“I have a crew here that will be a big help in getting the meals prepared,” McMillan said.
New workers include Teddy Nelson, Chris Baker and Dee Pederson, who joins McMillan in the daily prep and serving of meals to those who visit the restaurant.
“The food is going to be better, I hope,” McMillan said. “We have cleaned, cleaned, cleaned. I don’t think there is a cleaner restaurant in the city. We want to offer a pleasant experience when people come into the restaurant. We want them to feel good about coming and getting their bellies full and feel good about it all when they leave.”
The restaurant will return to their operating hours of 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, McMillan said.
“I have gotten so many calls while the restaurant was closed because people are still hearing about us and what we do here,” McMillan said. “The restaurant was featured in the August issue of ‘Our Daily Bread’ and we got a lot of calls.”
Not only were people interested in visiting the restaurant, some of the callers were asking for tips on how to do the same thing in other areas, McMillan said.
“The numbers I got calls from were showing up from all over,” McMillan said. “I had people asking how to go about doing this in their communities. It is a blessing to know that what we do here is inspiring others. One person who owns a restaurant asked how what we do works. I told her to run her restaurant like a business five days a week and on the sixth day, just let everyone who’s hungry come in and pay what they can afford. I know that God won’t let her business hurt if she does it.”
McMillan said getting back into the swing of preparing large batches of food has taken some work, but she is ready to roll.
“It takes a good bit of work preparing for the meals we serve,” McMillan said. “But, we are happy to get things ready.”
The ‘donations only’ aspect of the business will still be in place to allow everyone — no matter the ability to pay — to enjoy a freshly prepared meal.
“No matter if a person who walks through that door is rich or poor, they get the same food,” McMillan said. “We don’t cater to the rich just because they have some money. We are all about dignity for everyone who comes in. We want to make everyone feel like they are the most special person in the world. Just come sit down and eat.”
Drexell and Honeybee’s Donations Only Restaurant is located at 109 Lee Street near downtown Brewton.