Sweetie Pie’s Ms. Robbie Montgomery is heading back into the restaurant business.
St. Louis radio station Hot 104.1 exclusively broke the news regarding the 83-year-old on May 18. “Ms. Robbie gave us permission to announce that she’s opening up another restaurant again in our city!!!” read a post shared on Facebook.
The impending business’ name is unknown at this time, but it is expected to be located in the area of Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and Kingshighway Boulevard in the “Mound City.”
In sharing the news, the radio station’s post continued, “Let’s give her a BIG St. Louis congratulations!”
“Fantastic for her! She has been through some hardships…Goodluck to her,” wrote one fan in the comments.
“I’m so excited I needed some comfort food and really missed Sweetie pies. She made her cornbread just like my great granny and that taste is hard to find,” read another show of support for the endeavor.
“Yes! Don’t let your son knock you down,” read a third comment.
But not everyone was thrilled at the prospect of Montgomery returning to her culinary roots. The former singer for The Ikettes was formerly known for her soul food enterprise, Sweetie Pies, which shuttered its remaining location in St. Louis last year.
“Money going straight to big hips books. I’m good,” wrote one person with no plans of supporting the new restaurant.
“I’m not sending Tim no money,” echoed another person.
A third individual, however, expressed concern over the restaurant’s location. “She needs to pick safer areas.”
Fans came to love the soulful local celebrity when OWN Network debuted “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” in 2011. The reality series showcased the family business, both in the kitchen and at home, through 2018, when its final episode aired.
As the height of the show’s success, Montgomery entrusted her oldest son, Tim Norman, to expand the family business. She already had two locations in St. Louis, but with newfound notoriety and Norman at the helm, they opened two locations in Los Angeles.
Unlike their first two locations, the franchise’s outposts in the West failed to gain popularity and did not remain in business for long.
Montgomery seemingly threw in the towel after Norman was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot to kill his nephew, Andre Montgomery Jr. Norman allegedly was motivated by what he assumed would be an easy pay day for himself, totaling $450,000 from an insurance policy he took out on Montgomery.
However, Norman, 43, never got his hands on the cash following the 20-year-old’s March 2016 death in their hometown. “The measure of someone’s character is what they do when they think no one is watching. When he thought no one was watching, he planned the execution of his nephew and carried it out,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Angie Danis on March 2 when he was sentenced.
The father of one’s last social media post came days before he learned his fate. “Thank you for all the prayers. I’m still in disbelief. The feds know 100% I did not do those insurance policies… not one person got on the stand and said that I told them to hurt my nephew. They destroyed my name and image…” he wrote.
Aside from keeping her culinary skills sharp, Montgomery has also continued to dabble in music. Last year, she released her blues single “Thinking Bout Cheating” that left everyone talking.
