Honeybee Coffee is coming back with no brewery, but with several lessons learned

Honeybee Coffee will reopen its stores after a prolonged closure , but this time without its West Knoxville brewery and with three new investors on board.

The Knoxville company announced on social media it reopened its Sevierville shop Aug. 23 and would soon reopen its other three locations. The Sevier Avenue shop in South Knoxville and the Kingston Pike shop in West Knoxville are set to reopen Aug. 26 or Aug. 27, co-owner and founder Norris Hill told Knox News.

"We're going to go back to what we do best, and that's providing a fantastic experience around coffee," Hill said. "It is Knoxville's company, and we will continue to serve the community as best we can."

Honeybee's store in West Town Mall may take longer to reopen as Hill negotiates the lease with the mall. All stores could be running again within a week and a half after more than 20 former staff members returned, Hill said.

Those staff members were driven away under the leadership of Aaron Hensley , a self-proclaimed entrepreneur and business coach who bought the company in February with a plan to turn it into a franchise.

Hensley, who lives in Knoxville, instead demanded positive attitudes from employees while he did not pay them, according to interviews with several former staff members. He shared strange mass marketing messages and removed tips, according to a social media post by Honeybee, before abruptly leaving the company in June after staff members walked out in droves.

Hensley gave up his ownership when he left Honeybee on June 25, Hill said, and has not been involved since then.

The mall and West Knoxville locations have been closed since June, and the South Knoxville and Sevierville locations since July. Honeybee continues to sell wholesale locally roasted coffee on its website and will continue to sell beer at its South Knoxville and West Knoxville shops (just not its own brews).

Honeybee owner: 'A horrible time to make a decision'

During the closure, several local investors and business owners expressed interest in helping Honeybee return. The three new investors have chosen to stay anonymous, Hill said.

Hill will return as operator of the stores and retains part ownership. After he sold 80% of the company to Hensley, he gradually let the business coach run the company.

The experience of selling off the company, which he turned from a trailer to a local flagship coffee brand , taught him a few lessons as he scrambled to save it from failure.

"Had I not taken my eye off of who we are and the ethos of Honeybee as a community. ... I personally don't think we would have gotten in the trouble that we did," Hill said. "The beautiful thing was right in front of me, and I didn't see it."

The tight finances at Honeybee still exert a strain on the company. Hill and his employees are reopening quickly because the shops are losing money as they sit empty.

Selling to Hensley, who said he would shoulder responsibility for the debt and make the stores more successful than ever before, was a choice Hill made out of desperation.

"When you're desperate, that's a horrible time to make a decision," Hill said. "When you're super stressed and you're super anxious, the best thing you can do is be patient. And the way forward presented itself, and it was through the community of Knoxville."

Business coach promised to scale up small Knoxville businesses

Before he made the deal to purchase Honeybee, Hensley made overtures to other Knoxville business owners , promising he could grow their brands quickly. He offered one business owner a fraction of the cost of his pizza oven in exchange for full ownership.

On his personal website , Hensley says his goal is to "find and collaborate with 100 business owner families to create a new family of 'Rockefellers' and create legacy businesses to protect our American future."

In an interview with Knox News hours before he resigned from Honeybee, Hensley said he was creating a "new playbook" for the company, which was close to failing under growing debt.

"The only way to protect a business is to scale and grow it," Hensley said.

The line was similar to Hensley's message to entrepreneurs in his business coaching venture Rise USA , which operates out of an office on Gay Street. Much of his business experience came as a successful franchisee with Premier Martial Arts, a Knoxville company sued for defrauding franchise owners .

Hensley is not a party to the lawsuits.

When Knox News first reported on Hensley, he claimed ownership of five business. He has since removed Honeybee and a venture called Meal Masters from his personal website. Services like marketing and legal counsel also have been removed from a redesigned Rise USA website.

Hensley still claims his personal brands, Rise USA and Hensley Capital , which lists vacation rentals. Hensley Capital was administratively dissolved in 2023 and is listed as inactive by the Tennessee Secretary of State.

Knox News visuals editor Jennifer Dedman and husband Steve Dedman, who served as head brewer when beer was added to Honeybee in 2021, are no longer involved with the company. Under the USA TODAY Network Principles of Ethical Conduct for Newsrooms , Dedman was excluded from editorial involvement in this reporting.

Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Email daniel.dassow@knoxnews.com .

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Honeybee Coffee is coming back with no brewery, but with several lessons learned