Editor’s Note: This story first appeared in the Spring 2019 Cullman Magazine.

The first egg Kitty Spears cracks against her iron skillet early each morning is the starting bell of a scene played out for 100 years at the Busy Bee Cafe.

Fresh, steaming hot coffee, expertly prepared scrambled eggs, mounds of bacon, hash browns, sausage, toast, pancakes and more pass from the griddle to the plate, to the hungry mouths of loyal customers, and always a few newcomers.

This is family. Community. This is one of Cullman’s rich traditions, with humble beginnings in a white shotgun house for hungry town folk.

Don Errett takes his place at a counter stool most mornings with a handful of paperwork and coffee. A Midwesterner by birth who grew up on a farm, he found his way to Cullman about 10 years ago and discovered the Busy Bee one morning and now makes the restaurant a regular part of his day.

“We were at the courthouse one morning after moving here and saw the Busy Bee and decided to give it a try,” said Errett, a salesman for Marshall Best Security. “I love the hamburgers on Saturdays, and you meet a lot of people here who become your friends.”

Like many across the community, the destruction of the restaurant by an EF-4 tornado on April 27, 2011, was distressing. Kitty was buried in rubble and suffered injuries, but as patrons of the Busy Bee note, she made a remarkable comeback and with her family rebuilt the restaurant in the same location with a few additions without altering the appeal of the former structure.

“I think the family deserves a lot of credit, to come back and work to get the Busy Bee open again,” Errett said. “Once you’ve been in Cullman for a while, you see how important the Busy Bee is to downtown and the community. It’s an institution and draws people together.”

The more time spent in the Busy Bee, the more friends you make, which also comes with some good-natured poking and conversations.

“I’m the only Democrat in the room,” Errett said. “I get a lot of free advice. I’m Jerry Parker’s mission field.”

Parker, who comes every day to his favorite restaurant that’s opened daily except Sundays, chuckles at Errett’s determination to be a Democrat.

“We’ve been trying to convert him for years, but we’re all friends here and everyone enjoys being able to talk and learning about each other,” Parker said. “You learn to appreciate that we have a place in Cullman that has the best breakfast you’ll find anywhere, and a lot of good friends to go with it.”

That sense of family and friendships is what quickly turned Cullman police officer J.P. White into a regular customer.

“I started coming in three years ago or more, and now I’m here every day,” White said. “People recognize you and see your friends here. This is a family. If they don’t see you for a while, you’ll get a phone call to make sure you’re OK.”

Milford Ford established the Busy Bee in 1919, a few blocks from the present location on the north side of U.S. 278. Breakfast and burgers were on the menu then, and remain today.

The Spears family became the owners in 1967, when Andy and Louise Spears, who had moved to Cullman from Wyoming, bought the business for the practical purpose of needing a job.

“Mr. Spears had worked in the oil industry in Wyoming and was in the union. When they moved here, no one would hire him because of his union background,” Kitty said. “When they saw the Busy Bee was for sale, they bought it because they needed to make money.”

By 1989, Kitty and her late husband, Steve, became the owners. They had met years earlier at Calhoun Community College and soon married. Their children, Kyle and Stevie, along with son-in-law Mike Douglas, became the next generation to step in as owners. Kyle and Stevie’s daughter, CarrieAnn, a student at Wallace State Community College, have also joined the team, representing four generations of family in the city’s landmark cafe.

While the food has kept customers coming back for generations, the closeness between owners and patrons has created more than a business.

“Everybody communicates here, they’re not shy,” Kitty said. “Everybody’s treated like family, and really, that’s how it is and has been for a long time.”

The cozy, down-home confines of the Busy Bee has a lot to do with the entire family staying involved.

Stevie was a nurse, but eventually stepped away to join the family behind the counter. Mike was working in construction and decided to be a part of the tradition to remain closer to his family. And Kyle Spears has led the newer venture into evening hours and an expanded menu on Friday and Saturday.

“The night of the tornado, mom was in the hospital and we were all at home later talking about the future,” Kyle said. “We knew we had to rebuild; it’s what we know. That’s when dad said we needed to open at night and offer dinner and beer.”

That idea came true, opening a new chapter in the Busy Bee’s life in Cullman. A full line of German dishes, seafood, steaks and craft and import beers are on the menu.

“I think some people still don’t know we’re open on those nights, because for 95 years it was breakfast and lunch,” Kyle said. “But it has drawn some new customers as well as some of those we see during the day. It’s a more relaxed pace and people can sit back and enjoy themselves.”

Besides breakfast, the Busy Bee has many fans of its hamburgers. The old recipe is simple: ground beef and bread mixed together with a few seasonings and fried.

“This type of hamburger is what people ate for years and dates back to the late 1800s at the World Fair,” Kyle said. “A man was cooking meatballs and ran out of some of the things he needed and borrowed some bread from a vendor next to him. He mixed the meat and bread together and smashed them flat and served it with onions. The all-beef hamburger didn’t really become popular until after World War II, because people just didn’t have a lot of money.”

The new generation of owners are determined to keep the Busy Bee a part of Cullman’s lifestyle.

“We’re not like everybody else. We’re unique in that we remain a family diner, not a fast-food place, even though we turn the dishes quickly,” Kyle said. “We feel like we have a lot to offer, with what we do at night and the atmosphere that was created here, not just by the owners, but by our customers.

The restaurant will celebrate its anniversary on April 27 with special events, highlighting a tradition of family, community and food that has been a Cullman way of life for 100 years.