In southern Alabama there is a restaurant that has no prices on the menu. That’s because, at Drexell and Honeybee’s in Brewton, there’s no charge for the food.
Instead, there’s a contribution box where diners can leave whatever they want or can afford. The clientele is mostly older people who would have a hard time paying for their meal, or coming up with nutritious, calorie-filled alternatives, if it weren’t for Drexell & Honeybee’s.
Lisa Thomas-McMillan, 66, and her husband and co-owner, Freddie McMillan, both retirees, have been serving meals since March 2018 at their nonprofit restaurant, where the motto is “We Feed the Need.” Thomas-McMillan said:
“If you come into a restaurant, and you don’t have any money, and you sit down and see our suggested price, what are you going to do? It keeps the people away that absolutely, truly need it.”1
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Lisa said she noticed, while working at the cafeteria at Coastal Alabama Community College, that when elderly people came to eat there, many of them were barely able to scrape together the change needed to pay. She told the Washington Post:
“I have found out … a lot of elderly people are coming hungry because a lot of them can’t pay for their medicine and buy food. Food stamps are not adequate.”1
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So, Lisa and Freddie opened Drexel & Honeybee’s on Lee Street. Lisa said the name is something that just popped into her head. They serve the community of approximately 5,500 on Tuesdays through Fridays from 11 am to 1 pm. Both Freddie and Lisa are there at 5 am preparing a menu that constantly revolves around southern favorites like beef stew, mac and cheese, chicken and dumplings, and peach cobbler.
The contribution box is in a curtained off area, so all contributions are anonymous. Lisa said people used to be able to hear if you dropped change in the box, but a little fabric in the bottom of the box fixed that. She added:
“If you can give, give; if you can’t, don’t—we don’t care. That’s between you and God. We don’t worry about that.”1
The restaurant typically brings in just $110 per day. Freddie said the average contribution is $5. Sometimes checks for $50 appear in the contribution box. One time a diner left a $1,000 contribution.
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Volunteers staff the restaurant—some work in exchange for food and others are civic-minded locals. Thank-you notes complimenting Drexell & Honeybee’s are hanging up around the restaurant.
In 2018, Hunger Free America reported that Alabama ranks among the highest in the country for food insecurity. Specifically, 822,109 Alabamians went to bed not always know where their next meal was coming from, including 122,400 senior citizens.
Lisa had her own experiences with hunger and poverty. In 2017 she wrote about it in a memoir titled Living Fulfilled. She acknowledges that sometimes it’s challenging to keep the operation afloat. The restaurant is primarily funded by the couple’s Social Security and Freddie’s retirement benefits from serving in the Marines. Lisa told Alabama Living:
“The hours are long; the cost is high, but it’s a calling for us. The notes people leave in our box tell us how much a need there is. I got one the other day that said, ‘Because of you, a family of four was able to eat today.’ That’s worth a million dollars to me.”1
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In a review on Google, one diner said he didn’t believe the food was free “until I came and checked it out for myself.” He added:
“If it were a regular restaurant they’d probably command most of what’s in our wallets. God bless the people running this place. I can imagine it is a blessing to so many people who’ve needed the warmth in both food and fellowship.”1
