Meet Elise Stevens | Restaurant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Elise Stevens and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Elise, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Our business is a unique business model and one that takes a lot of faith. We are a pay what you can restaurant. We have absolutely no prices on our menu. We are funded solely by our social media income and blessings from others. When I first opened my restaurant, I had prices on my menu, but after just three weeks of running like a regular restaurant, a child came into my restaurant who had no money but was hungry so I chose to feed him. That night I went home and I prayed on what to do. The next day when I woke up, I told my husband we need to take the prices off our menu feed everybody and trust God to provide the amount of money. We need each day to succeed. My husband asked me to wait a year before I went through with this. I agreed to wait.

That weekend we didn’t have one customer or make one dollar all weekend. I sat down next to my husband and I asked him. Are you ready to trust God the next weekend we took all the prices off our menu and we made more money than we had anytime we had been open. God always provides.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Meemaws is God‘s pay what you can restaurant we are a religious non-profit but no honesty. We are more than a restaurant. We are a community and a family.

At Meemaws, we feed everybody no matter how much money they have in their pocket. All kids in our community eat free no matter what and adults are only asked to pay what they truly can afford.

We have been sharing our story on social media now for four years. A year and a half ago we began grounding ourselves in the word and studying spiritual warfare.

We had taken a step back from social media and stopped sharing our story. 16 years ago I was taken against my will and held hostage for five months while I was pregnant with my oldest daughter. After escaping I jokingly asked my friend now husband to be my bodyguard. Our story has been posted multiple times worldwide as a real life Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner.

When I decided to take the prices off my menu, I knew that I could use my story to fund my restaurant so I could take my trauma and give back to my community.

A part of my story is that I never cooked because my ex stabbed me in the abdomen while I was cooking him corn, beef hash, and it resulted in me being admitted to the hospital for 10 days. I had a true fear of the kitchen and my husband Never expected me or wanted me to cook if I didn’t want to.

A year ago I woke up and told my husband that God had commanded me to start making sourdough bread. That quickly turned into making dinner for random people in our community and our Bible study. When I told my husband, I wanted to start my restaurant we had $20 extra in our bank account and I told him that if it was meant to be for me to start a restaurant, God would provide the finances.

He not only provided the finances, but he also provided the building and all the supplies that I needed. I had my restaurant up and running in the matter of 30 days.

My restaurant is a safe place for everybody a place that everybody’s accepted no matter what we allow adult conversation, but we do not allow disrespect foul language or putting others down. We asked that people take accountability for their own actions. We will not gossip with you and we will not hold secrets. We are a family here and we love everybody we just wanna feed everybody.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
None of this would’ve been possible without the sweet woman who donated $5000 to me and believed in me when nobody else ever would. She has asked to stay anonymous, but she means the world to me and I needed to give her some form of acknowledgment.

Website: https://Meemaws.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meemawshometownkitchen?igsh=cjFhZ2N4aWQxOGlu&utm_source=qr

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/18miNqKw1J/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@meemawshometownkitchen?si=GPX_gOu94Zf7IzsW