The following is a sneak peek from our January issue, headed to newsstands now.
From left, Sandra Mines, Devonya Anderson and Nickole Cary (Photo by Jay Paul)
It may be a chain, but the Lee’s Chicken at 2200 W. Broad St., the franchise's only location in the state, is a Richmond classic. The OG of fried chicken provides consistent comfort food with a side of unrivaled customer service. Flipping the fast-food script, the restaurant features a number of longtime employees who have been referring to Lee’s, and one another, as their family and home for decades. When I went to Lee’s to speak with its owner, Henry Loving, who bought the Richmond location in 1991, he had a mop in hand and moved methodically through the dining room. It was clear why employees stay. It takes a dedicated captain to steer, but Loving calls his staff the anchor of the Lee’s ship.
Sandra Mines, 59, cook
If you’ve eaten at Lee’s in the past 25 years, you’ve tasted the dedication and secret touch of Sandra Mines — a big reason loyal Lee’s fans line up outside the restaurant before it opens.
“I would have stayed here until I retired in 2025,” says Mines, her eyes holding back tears. Mines worked her last shift on Oct. 25. She was recently diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer, forcing her to leave to focus on treatment.
Mines ran a tight ship and was known as the queen of Lee’s famous sides, especially her green beans and apples.
When asked if a lot of people knew her, despite working in the kitchen, she replies, “Not a whole lot.”
But seconds later, an animated voice shouts, “How you doing, Miss Sandra? I see you, big-time legendary over here!”
She smiles at me. I’ve caught her in a humble fib. Mines will surely be missed.
“There’s love here,” she says. “There’s love here.”
Devonya Anderson, 47, cashier
“I like No. 2,” says Devonya "Dee" Anderson, declaring that register as her favorite. The cashier would know. She’s been an inviting face greeting Lee’s customers for 21 years, and by this point, she can recite their standing orders on sight.
“I see them coming and put it on in. I know what they want,” explains Anderson, who started her Lee’s career in the kitchen but quickly realized it wasn’t the right fit — she’s a people person.
She tells me Butch, a former customer who loved Lee’s rotisserie chicken (which they no longer sell), would come in weekly, hand her a bill and tell her to keep the change.
“We called him my Lee’s husband,” Anderson says, laughing. She adds that watching her coworkers’ kids, and now grandkids, grow up has made her cherish the familial environment.
“Everybody has grown, there’s no petty stuff going on,” she says. “It’s a cool place to work.”
Nickole Cary, 50, assistant manager
“I was determined. I said, ‘I’m going to make my stake,’ ” declares Nickole Cary, a go-getter with a vivacious spirit and an eye for fierce lipstick who says Lee’s had fewer than 10 employees when she started 23 years ago. “I came in, hung out with the best of them and did what I needed to do.”
Cary began as a cashier, and she’s now the assistant manager. She says the formula for hospitality success is patience, communication and being able to “put on different hats” in order to serve their customers. Same goes for employees.
“If they have a problem, I want them to feel comfortable talking to me, to have that trust in me,” says Cary, who didn’t get her nickname “Grandma Nikki” for no reason.
“It’s a second home,” she says of the restaurant. “[Loving] is a really good person, he takes care of you. Everybody looks out for one another.”
