Queen Bee’s Snack Bar on Hardscrabble Road in Monkton is temporarily closed after an electrical fire engulfed the kitchen trailer and surrounding structures early on Sunday morning.

The fire started at around 5:15 a.m., owner Kim Jewell said. She had already gone out to the snack bar to start the coffee pot, fryer and grill for the morning’s breakfast but had returned to her house to use the restroom when the power went out.

“My husband thought somebody hit a tree,” Kim told Seven Days. “I went back out to the snack bar to shut everything off, and as soon as I opened the back door, there was the big glow. It took like seven minutes total.”



The fire was probably started by a spark from the compressor on a mini fridge, Kim’s daughter Kristen Jewell said. Firefighters were able to keep the flames from damaging the family’s home, which shares a driveway with the business, but the snack bar was a total loss.

Tucked in the woods near the Monkton-Bristol border, Queen Bee’s has been an Addison County summer staple since 2015. This was its busiest year yet, Kim said. The Jewells added online ordering and started serving breakfast this fall, and they planned to be open long weekends all winter long.

“We may be in the sticks, but it’s a big hub of a place,” Kristen said. “This doesn’t mean we can’t have those plans come to fruition eventually, but now it’s a little on hold.”

The Jewells’ long-term plan is to build a permanent structure where the snack bar’s trailer stood. In the meantime, they will work to finish a recently purchased second trailer to use for catering, and they will host Breakfast With Santa at St. Peter’s Parish Hall in Vergennes on Saturday, December 2.

“I can’t sit still,” Kim said. “I gotta keep going.”