The Hive and Honey Hill Bring Buzzing Food and Entertainment to Chagrin Falls

Ever since Kimberly and Jimmy Gibson met in 2007 as chefs at Moxie, both food and local culture have been integral to their relationship. Together, they opened Hungry Bee Catery in 2011, which is one of seven businesses at The Hive and Honey Hill, two multi-experiential event centers in Chagrin Falls.

For Kimberly, a Chagrin Valley native and the daughter of a beekeeper, the value of farm-fresh goods was always apparent. She grew up working in the restaurant industry, which led her to craft big dishes in the big city at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. But her heart was always in a small neighborhood eatery called Timberfire.

“Timberfire was my first cooking job,” Kimberly says. “I worked the salad station. They wrote my college admission letter to the Culinary Institute of America. When you walked into that restaurant, you immediately felt the owner and the manager's appreciation for you coming in and spending your hard-earned money.” 

In 2005, the restaurant at 8258 E. Washington St. succumbed to a devastating fire, and the land remained vacant ever since. She always sought a way to somehow bring it back.

The silver lining came nearly two decades later in 2023, when Chagrin Cinemas closed, adjacent to the former site of Timberfire. The Gibsons purchased it shortly after.

A new Timberfire remained the inspiration for the repurposed cinema space. It sustains tradition with a slight face lift from its former, dark cabin interior.

“We're gonna brighten it up a little bit,” Kimberly says of the design. “We are gonna bring some of the original dishes back, but also bring some new favorites of ours as well.”

But with 66,000 square feet of cinema, the Gibsons realized they could do so much more than one restaurant. Much of the campus will be dedicated to Honey Hill, a 400-guest wedding and banquet venue that also features bridal and groom's suites.

Hungry Bee’s headquarters joins Timberfire at The Hive, connected to Honey Hill. The new catery space is double the size of its former 1,800-square-foot kitchen on East Washington Street.

Other storefronts in the venue give makers, artists, chefs and mixologists a space to call home at The Hive.

“This is for them, after all,” Kimberly says. “This is our living love letter to the community that has supported us so much.”

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Timberfire will be accompanied by an elegant, yet rustic speakeasy that elevates the neighborhood’s cocktail scene. Goods, a vendor marketplace, presents products from local sellers. Screens and Concessions maintains the history of Chagrin Cinemas, serving high-end theater snacks like charcuterie and showcasing classic movies, sports games and watch parties. The Woodshed, Jimmy’s personal favorite space, is dedicated to The Grateful Dead as a music venue for small-scale artists and high school bands.

“If you're going to tinker with something or, you know, honing in on your craft, you're kind of woodshedding — figuring out how to do it yourself through trial and error,” Jimmy relates. “That's the kind of inspiration that we drew.”

The Gibsons will use Timberfire’s aesthetic as a springboard for The Hive and Honey Hill’s rustic elegance, with further influence from a visit to Magnolia in Waco, Texas. The acclaimed community project of Chip and Joanna Gaines features a similar layout of local shops, restaurants and the famous Magnolia Market for home decor.

“They are doing it the right way,” says Kimberly, “something very family-friendly.”

Family matters for the Gibsons and their three daughters, which is why their venues meet the needs and interests of children and adults alike — a weekend getaway or an after-school oasis on a Wednesday. While Kimberly and Jimmy remark that The Hive and Honey Hill fulfill many dreams of their own, they’re doing this out of an understanding of what gathering spaces other families in the community need. These are a dream come true for them, too.

"The Hive is what happens when someone ordinary is given extraordinary support," Kimberly said ahead of the venue's grand opening.

That adage greets guests on a wall right above The Hive's entrance as a constant reminder of who exists at the core of the space's mission and purpose.

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