Husband and wife duo Kimberly Love-Lindsey and Mike Lindsey credit the pandemic with helping the restauranteurs learn patience and focus.
The couple, who owns Buttermilk and Honey in Short Pump, and Pop’s Market and Lillie Pearl in the downtown area, started Lillie Pearl in November 2020 when the pandemic was in full force.
“COVID changes your perspective,” says Love-Lindsey. “It came to the point that we said we can do this on our own [the couple recently worked for EAT Restaurant Partners — she as director of operations and he as culinary director]. We realized we had to take care of ourselves. It was a huge risk.”
The pandemic taught them how to be better business owners through a less-is-more contact concept. “It gives a lot of freedom to the guests as to how they want to be taken care of and how they want to order,” Lindsey says. “It allows us to be good at customer service. We learned how to use minimal people to get the job done. We are smarter business owners.”
Finding Their Niche
The couple met when both worked for Yardhouse Restaurant in Raleigh. They moved to Richmond in 2015 to be closer to Lindsey’s three older kids from a previous marriage.
Lindsey has been working in the food industry since he landed his first job cooking when he was a sophomore in college.
“It’s always something I’ve loved to do,” he says of working with food. “It was so crazy, working with people from different places in life. I loved the atmosphere and the energy. I love the industry, the service, and all of the food aspects as well as the creativity and connection.”
Love-Lindsey started in the food industry at the age of sixteen and has made it her career since then.
“I don’t know anything else,” she says. “I’ve always worked in the restaurant hospitality aspect. I really appreciate that I can take care of guests. My favorite part is watching them take their first bite of food when they are eating Mike’s food.”
Her background in hospitality and Lindsey’s as a chef is a “good balance for us,” she says.
She and Lindsey talked in length about having their own restaurant. “We knew it would take real dedication,” she says.
When they first opened Lillie Pearl, they had to wait about six weeks before they could get their liquor license. That extended period worked in their favor.
“It was great for us because we could concentrate on the food and taking care of the guests,” says Love-Lindsey, adding that the couple’s son, Tristen, was born shortly before they opened Lillie Pearl. “Richmond came out and gave us a lot of love. It was an amazing year.”
After Tristen was born and the restaurant was open, the two reached out to Lindsey’s parents for some babysitting help.
“We were super blessed,” Love-Lindsey says. “Mike told them we were going to need help with the baby and asked them if they would come up and help for a week. They said, How about if we move in? And they are still with us. It’s a blessing to have them at the house. We couldn’t have done it without them.”
Growth and Expansion
The couple’s second restaurant venture, Pop’s Market, came about serendipitously.
“We would go over and get sandwiches from them,” says Lindsey explaining that the market is across from Lillie Pearl on Grace St. “They [mom and son owners] asked us if we would be willing to take over the market. I talked to Kim about it, and we agreed to do it.”
During the day, Pop’s serves a menu loaded with sandwiches to keep to its original concept. At night, it becomes a lively event space.
At first, the couple didn’t realize how quickly Lillie Pearl would take off, but Lindsey still wanted a backup plan in the event the pandemic worsened. With that in mind, he created Buttermilk and Honey as a pop-up out of Lillie Pearl for to-go chicken sandwiches and other southern fare.
“It was a good opportunity to create buzz and get feedback,” says Love-Lindsey. “By the time we opened in Short Pump in September 2021 we knew what we were going to do.”
Based on the success of their first three ventures, the couple is in the process of opening three new restaurants, all in the Manchester area — Buttermilk and Honey and Bully Burger, both located in Hatch Local Food Hall, and Jubilee in the former Wildcraft Focaccia location.
Their goal for the future is to be less hands-on and more administrative in the roles of culinary and operations directors. “Our three-year goal at that point is to be owners. We both love what we do, and we love our work. Our goal is to step back, be hands-on, but put people in those roles [in the restaurants]. We want to raise Tristan and enjoy life,” Lindsey says.
