The Alabama News Center — Hello Sunshine Eats in Linden, Alabama, is a beacon for hungry diners

By: Jennifer Kornegay / Alabama Living

Sonny Breckenridge never had any intention of running a restaurant. Before he opened Hello Sunshine Eats in Linden in summer 2024, he never really thought about fixing pounds and pounds of food to sell and serve to others. But what began with making use of an empty lot he owned quickly became an energizing ray of light for his community.

Owning and running a construction company keeps Breckenridge busy, but when he heard a local store with a popular lunch counter in a neighboring community was closing, he felt he could fill the void. He had a vacant piece of land on a main road, so he reached out to the guy who’d run the store’s little eatery, and they started Hello Sunshine Eats, beginning with a food truck. Initial success motivated them to expand into a permanent restaurant, which Breckenridge was able to build quickly thanks to his day job.

While Breckenridge and his original teammate in the venture have since parted ways, Hello Sunshine is still beaming. “Folks here were supportive from the beginning and still are,” Breckenridge says. And while he wasn’t trying to draw in tourists, word of the good eats on offer has spread, nonetheless. “We’ve had people drive to us from as far as Tuscaloosa,” which is 70 miles away.

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