Owner of King Bee Bar-B-Que hopes to be open in September
A new barbecue joint is planned for the building that once housed J&B Barbecue.
Owner Dustin White sent a release out Monday, announcing that he is opening new restaurant King Bee Bar-B-Que at 48 S. Holloway St., which most recently housed Gigi’s Restaurant.
White told the Hendersonian in a brief interview Monday that he’s had the bug to open a restaurant for many years now but never had the ability to go all in and make it happen. When the building became vacant early this summer, White said he put in a lot of thought and prayer before deciding to open the restaurant.
He said he’d like to open full-service, including dine in and carryout by mid-September. But that depends on money.
He’s started a crowdfunding Kickstarter campaign. That can be accessed here.
Opening full-service in September is dependent on reaching the fundraising goal, which is $25,000. As of this writing Monday afternoon, more than $5,000 had been raised, according to a quick check of the campaign’s Kickstarter page.
If the funding goal is not reached, White said he’ll start with take-out with the hope of building into full-service later.
According to Monday’s release, White has worked for years in restaurants and as a commercial painter, and in that time, he has perfected his recipes. He said for years and years friends and family have told him, “You need to open your own restaurant.”
Until opening, White said he’ll still be working as a commercial painter, and on his days off, he’ll be at the Holloway Street location, getting the building and equipment ready to go for opening.
He said days and times for restaurant hours are still to be determined but he expects to start off being open five days a week, possibly taking Monday-Tuesday off.
A release that White sent out Monday said that good food, good company and good music go together. He said he’ll bring his record collection, containing many blues records but also some old-time country and other musical styles and play the music for patrons.
White said he came up with the name for the restaurant from an old song by the blues musician Slim Harpo called “I’m a King Bee.”
He believes the blues especially goes well with barbecue. He said there’s a certain catalogue for how you can cook barbecue and for how you play blues music.
“I’ve always felt they’ve gone together,” White said. “They take a long time to perfect.”
