This Donations-Only Restaurant Where All Are Welcome Say “We Feed the Need” in Alabama

Drexell & Honeybees family-style restaurant gives food and dignity to people who need it most and has inspired the surrounding community to do the same.

Feeding hungry people who may otherwise go without is the mission behind Drexell and Honeybee’s

There is an usual restaurant in downtown Brewton, Alabama. There are no menus at Drexell and Honeybee’s, no suggested prices, and not even a cash register. Everyone who walks in the door goes through the line and selects an entrée – depending on the day, it might be barbecued ribs, chicken pot pie, beef stew or any number of other Southern specialties – plus side dishes, bread, tea and dessert. And when they leave, if they feel so inclined, they can pay whatever they wish in a donation box. Or not. Sometimes, patrons just leave a note of thanks. What, you may be asking yourself, is that all about? 

At Drexell & Honeybee’s ‘Everybody eats.’

When you enter Drexell & Honeybee’s in downtown Brewton, Alabama, you’ll walk past booths and four-tops full of cornbread, fried chicken, and collard greens. The one thing you won’t find is a checkout register. To owners Lisa and Freddie Thomas-McMillan, food is about the joy of serving others. And that doesn’t come with a price tag.

In fact, there’s only one rule: ‘Everybody eats.’ From Tuesday through Thursday, 11 A.M. – 1 P.M., Drexell & Honeybee’s serves up hot plates to hungry on-comers from all walks of life, whether you can pay for it or not. There are no suggested prices, in fact, no prices of any kind. 

When you are done with your meal, you simply leave whatever you can – a handful of coins, a generous donation, a hand-written note, or a heartfelt ‘Thank You’. But when you leave, you do so with a full stomach, a full heart, and the understanding that you are loved and worthy of love. You can find soul food all over Alabama, but you won’t find a meal that fills you up quite like this one.

So what does Freddie and Lisa “get” out of all this? Joy!

The following are Lisa’s words – taken from an article published by The Bitter Southerner by Jennifer Kornegay: “Make no mistake, joy is not the same thing as happiness. Happiness is fleeting; joy is something down in your soul. The more you do, the more you’re able to do, and the richer you become.”

Source: DrexelandHoneybee.com

“The best thing you can do in the world is make a difference,”

Two years ago, Lisa Thomas-McMillan took a chance on opening a donations-only restaurant in downtown Brewton, in a building she and her husband, Freddie, had bought and renovated. Drexell and Honeybee’s is the eatery with the funny name – it’s something Lisa made up years ago that stuck with her – and a serious mission: to feed the hungry. 

A Brewton native, Lisa moved away to Los Angeles for 20 years, returning home after living through a terrifying earthquake. Since 1994, she has been feeding people in one way or another, from college students to the elderly.

Lisa does much more for the city than put food on the table at Drexell and Honeybee’s. 

"When Lisa and Freddie first approached the city with the plan to open a ‘pay-what-you-can’ restaurant, I didn’t really understand how that could possibly work,” says Brewton Mayor Yank Lovelace. 

“But the city rallied behind the project, and we gave her a grant to help get the store opened. It was probably one of the best investments we have made into our city’s people and into business here too. She is a miracle worker, and her love of people feeds the need for food but also the need every person has to belong to a caring community."

“The best thing you can do in the world is make a difference,” Lisa told AL.com in November of 2018. With a kind heart, a generous spirit and infectious joy, she continues to make a difference in her hometown.

Learn more about Lisa’s life – and Drexel and Honeybee’s – in the video below.

Source: AL.com