SANTEE, S.C. — On Christmas day last year, Santee's Lone Star Bar-B-Que and Mercantile burned to the ground.
This week, owner Rachael Henderson says they are reopening, but with a new style.
“Originally our plan was to build a building, but with the economy the way that it is and the prices have gone up so much on everything, just to do a small building was a lot," Henderson said. "So me and my husband were talking, let's get a food trailer and see how that works. And if it works out well, we can build as we work. So whatever we make, we can put back into the building fund to build another building.”
The current Lone Star Bar-B-Que food truck is parked next to their original location.
Jane Powell from the Santee Cooper Country Visitor’s Center says the restaurant was a big pull for tourism in Orangeburg County.
“It’s great for tourism, it just has such a great reputation and people do come here and they ask us all the time, 'Where can we go eat, we want to eat like locals,'" Powell said. "That's important when you're visiting this area, and I mean, we all do that. So Lone Star is one of our “you must go to” when you’re in the Santee Cooper Country area.”
Lone Star Bar-B-Que's owners are asking guests to be patient as they navigate their new space.
“Please have some patience with us, this is new for us, too. So, we're having to figure out how we can capitalize on the most food in a little place and still make sure that we can serve the customers efficiently because we don’t have as much room," Henderson said. "We went from 7200 sq. feet to a food trailer, but we’re trying to do the best that we can. We love the barbecue business. We love our community. We want to be there, so were doing what we can to start with.”
Lone Star Bar-B-Que's food truck will officially reopen on at 11 a.m. on Friday, November 1, 2024.