Sweetie Pie’s Is Making A Comeback After Family’s Murder Scandal

The city of St. Louis is set to welcome a new and improved Sweetie Pie’s restaurant months after shutting the doors on its last location and seeing one of the members of the family-run business get sentenced to life in prison.

Sweetie Pie’s 2nd Act is coming to north St. Louis at Kingshighway Boulevard and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive after closing its previous location last fall, KMOV reports. Developers working on the new location submitted plans to the city’s Land Clearance for Development Authority on Tuesday, May 23.

Owner Robbie Montgomery has plans of investing $3.7 million into the project and creating around 25 jobs for locals. The new location will sit across from the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and include a 160-seat dining area and two event spaces.

“It’ll be a place where people can just–not just get to-go orders, but also sit down, rent out space. We want it to be top-notch,” Michael Holmes, a representative for the economic development branch of Urban League said.

“We also want to be a tool for redevelopment for the entire area, which would be part of north St. Louis. ArchWell [Health] has come in. We’re looking to add more stores.”

The new location could be the resurrection of Sweetie Pie’s after the beloved soul food restaurant was rocked by a disturbing insurance scam scandal involving Montgomery’s son Tim Norman. In March, Norman was sentenced to life in prison for the murder-for-hire against his nephew, Andre Montgomery Jr in 2016.

The sentencing came three years after Norman was first accused of being the mastermind behind his nephew’s death. Court documents show Norman took out a life insurance policy on Andre for $450,000 in 2014, two years before his death.

In September 2022, Norman was found guilty on all charges, including conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, murder-for-hire resulting in death, and mail fraud, KSDK reports. The family gained fame on the reality TV show “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

This is the third location for Sweetie Pie’s after the location at the Mangrove in The Grove area closed down in July 2016, and the original location at 981 W Florissant Ave. in Dellwood closed last year.