Recently, the restaurant held a soft opening before celebrating its grand opening the next day.
Residents in the area now have another choice for satisfying their barbecue cravings. Willie Jewell’s Old School Bar-B-Q, a family-owned restaurant serving southern-style barbecue, has opened at 2163 Everglades Lane in Magnolia Plaza. The restaurant’s workers held a soft opening recently with special performances to celebrate the occasion, with the grand opening scheduled for the next day. Locals came in to try out the latest alternative, and the restaurant’s door seemed to be constantly swinging open.
“Everything is going great,” said Jessica Smith, the restaurant’s founder. “The response from the general public has been incredible. Everyone has been extremely helpful to us.”
Smith and her family own and operate the restaurant. Her husband, David Smith, is the general manager; her father, Mark Hinch, is the franchisee; and one of her uncles is the evening manager.
“This is a lot of family business,” Hinch said. “The business is generally administrated around the family.”
Jessica and her family have been planning to open a Willie Jewell’s for a few years. Paul Hinch, her other uncle, used to own three Willie Jewell’s restaurants in Yulee, Florida; Brunswick, Georgia and Kingsland, Georgia. He still controls the Yulee and Brunswick sites, but he offered Jessica the chance to buy out his Kingsland site. She, on the other hand, preferred to open a restaurant in Florida. She researched potential locations and was advised to try The Villages, which she considered to be a good fit.
She enlisted the aid of her father, and they’ve been working on opening the restaurant in The Villages for the past year, with the help of Hinch.
Mark, of the Village of DeLuna, saw an opportunity to open a location in The Villages, particularly in the southern section.
“South of the turnpike, there are very few restaurants,” Mark said.
The addition has been well received by Villagers. Customers approached Mark to express their gratitude for the food during its opening.
“I’ve had nothing but positive feedback,” Mark said.
After the doors opened, business remained steady.
– Attributed Source, The Villages Daily Sun
