The iconic Bee Hive Restaurant in Montesano, which has been on the market for about a year, is now officially in the hands of new owners Rose and Craig Gallington, who say they plan to focus on top-notch customer service after the restaurant reopens in June.
That’s right, if you need a Bee Hive fix before then, better get in before 8 p.m. Sunday; that’s when a couple of weeks’ worth of interior renovations will be made and the new owners will be hiring staff and working on a menu that will include some classics and some new items.
You may recognize the Gallingtons from their current venture, Wynooche Valley Meats, just a block or two away from the Bee Hive.
Rose said the two ventures will work hand in hand, with the Painted Hills beef from a town called Fossil in north central Oregon that lines the shelves of their meat shop being incorporated into the Bee Hive menu.
Previous to the Gallingtons’ purchase, the restaurant was owned by Ralph and Paul Larson, who also operate Duffy’s Restaurant in Aberdeen.
“The big focus is on refurbishing, cleaning, giving it a face-lift on the inside,” said Rose. Craig said that will include new floors.
The couple plan to continue offering a full-service bar at the location, in addition to breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week.
“The key is focused on being a family diner where a guy can bring his wife and three or four kids and be able to eat there more than once a month,” said Craig.
“We want it to be known as a family-friendly restaurant that is affordable,” said Rose. “I get told daily that families can’t afford to take the family out to eat more than once a month.”
Affordability doesn’t mean things like the menu, quality of food and customer service have to suffer, assure the Gallingtons.
The couple plans to “streamline” the menu, keeping the most popular items and adding some of their own dishes to incorporate items currently sold at the meat shop.
Rose said the idea of customer service is important to her, and the couple are advertising now for additional staff. As for current staff, all will have a chance to remain on board.
“Employees will all have the opportunity to apply for a job and we’ll see where they fit,” said Craig. In the end, the staff will be larger than the one currently at the Bee Hive, he said.
Craig said the goal is to reopen the restaurant June 1, but it’s never a certainty how long a project like interior improvements on a building can take. Rose remembers even when their meat shop opened, they were removing walls and rearranging the interior for some time to get the shop to its current form.
The Bee Hive’s humble beginnings were in a tent put up at the current location at the corner of Main Street and Pioneer Avenue in 1934 by Mom and Pop Gunn, serving coffee and burgers. Hugh Gibb purchased the business and built the current building in 1940, renaming it the Bee Hive. Ralph Miller bought the business after Gibb’s death and ran it until Jack Mempa bought the business in 1966. He added the popular Honeycomb Room bar in 1971 and operated the Bee Hive until 1997, when the Larsons took over.
