When chef Sammy Davis started in the food service industry, he found himself working through the weekends.

Davis, who started as a dishwasher and line cook, recalled feeling left out of the weekend brunch scene because he had to work the line during typical brunch hours.

So in 2008, Davis founded Milk & Honey, a southern-inspired brunch restaurant in Atlanta. Davis hoped his restaurant would be a place for industry workers like himself to engage in the novelty of brunch throughout the week, he said.

“Brunch is seven days a week now,” Davis said. “You didn’t see anybody doing it before Milk & Honey. We kind of set that standard.”

Although Davis didn’t intend for the brand to become anything more than his “little spot,” there are now 13 branches of the restaurant in the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia area, including the College Park location that opened in 2018, according to Davis. The restaurant previously catered for the University of Maryland basketball program, he added.

Inspiration for Milk & Honey partially sprang from Davis’ observation of a lack of Black representation in the brunch scene, he explained. In Atlanta, people in search of brunch would find themselves in predominately white areas, Davis said. He takes pride in putting a different cultural twist on meals.

The chain is now owned by Thompson Hospitality, the largest minority-owned food service in the nation, according to the company’s website. Davis remains involved in the company as a chef consultant, he said.

Davis came to Maryland about 15 years ago and moved to Baltimore last year to open a new restaurant called Yebo Kitchen, he said.

He worked his way from low-paying jobs at various restaurants to his first appearance on the Food Network show “Chopped” in 2010, where he was sleeping in his car after first moving to Maryland, he said.

“Your biggest obstacle when you’re homeless is food. So at the restaurant, you got shelter, you got food,” Davis said. “That was my introduction into the hospitality industry.”

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Food from Davis’ childhood inspired the southern brunch cuisine offered by the original Milk & Honey in Atlanta. A woman that he and his sister occasionally visited in South Carolina inspired some of his first recipes, Davis said.

“The grits that everybody rave about at Milk & Honey, those are her grits,” Davis said, referring to the Chef Sammy’s Award-Winning Shrimp and Grits.

Several customers at the College Park Milk & Honey enjoyed the location for its quality service.

Takoma Park resident Carolyn Smith said she has been visiting the College Park restaurant about every two weeks for at least three years. Smith, who said she enjoys the restaurant’s friendly atmosphere, said the staff know her and often wave whenever she visits.

“The waiters and waitresses are the bomb,” Smith said. “They take care of me.”

Sophomore criminology and criminal justice major London Bowie visited Milk & Honey with her friends for a meal on Valentine’s Day. She had visited before, she said, and returned because she enjoyed the locality and food.

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First-time customer and Hyattsville resident Jada Robinson noted feeling cramped in the College Park restaurant’s crowded space, but appreciated the environment.

“It seems pretty friendly,” Robinson said. “The service was really fast.”

Though Davis is focused on his new restaurant, he is proud of the business’s progress and feels accomplished in his contribution to the brand, he said. To Davis, the Milk & Honey brand will eternally secure his legacy.

“My name is on brands that’s going to live forever,” Davis said. “So my stamp in life is that I live forever young, because my name is there as an artist.”