Marie Stanley and Cathy Stanley say it was their grandfather who inspired the name for Honey’s Desserts, the loafs, cakes and tarts served at their Southwest coffee shop Sacred Grounds Café (222 M St. SW).
“All his grandchildren called him Honey,” said Cathy of her grandfather, “because that’s what we heard my grandmother call him,” interjects Marie. “And that name stuck with him, all his life, he was ‘Honey,’” finishes her sister.
A week after their opening on March 7, they were forced to close because of the pandemic. Now, after three months, the family, including Marie’s son Nigel Broadnax, has reopened Fridays and Saturdays for front door pick-up of coffee beverages, sandwiches, salads and Honey’s Desserts and is about to launch on the GrubHub delivery platform. The shop serves banana bread, carrot, sweet potato and apple loafs. They offer sweet potato and apple crumb tarts and a new chocolate espresso cake with coffee icing.
The reopening has been going well, said Cathy, especially after the success of the grand opening. Hundreds of neighbors came to meet the two proprietors and pick up a free coffee. “It was wonderful,” said Marie. “It was better than we thought. It was busy from the moment we opened to the moment we closed.”
A Partnership With St. Matthew’s
Marie and Cathy are local residents and of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, which built a brand-new church building that opened in January 2019. The building had a café space but no operator. The sisters decided to step in and partner with the church to operate the café.
The location is perfect, said Marie. “It was Southwest, and southwest is not only up-and-coming, it’s here,” she said. There is a lot of foot traffic, with an apartment next door and with the location set perfectly between Nationals Park and The Wharf.
Sacred Grounds Café is currently open Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Learn more by calling 202-725-8642, by visiting Sacred Grounds Café is at 222 M St. SW, between Valo Apartments and St. Matthews Lutheran Church. Follow @SacredGroundsCafeDC on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Visit HoneysDesserts.com to place orders for pick-up at the café or email [email protected]
