It’s been a year now this week since Lillian Avila took a chance on Howe and opened her homestyle cooking restaurant in the downtown district. The building that housed Wyomings Restaurant and then a barbeque restaurant, and most recently, Honeybee’s coffee shop, Avila was given little hope by the community to make it one year.
“It was concerning in the beginning.” said Avila. “So many restaurants were in this location, but I knew we had the food and I know how to do it, so it was just a matter of time to give it time and let people taste what we have.”
The number one item ordered is still the chicken fried steak and the word has traveled all over North Texas about it.
“I’ve had a motorcycle group from Plano call us and let us know they’re coming because they’ve heard of our chicken fried streak.” said Avila. “We’ve had people from Wylie, Gainesville, Oklahoma and all over.”
The restaurant is 
named after Avila’s youngest sister and they are originally from Honduras. They came to McKinney, Texas in 1986 and attended schools there. Avila opened her first restaurant in 2005 in Pilot Point, Texas. Trying to relocate to Howe in 2012, she ended up in Tioga until the lease in Howe became available.
Avila says that could very well be her only anniversary in the 108 E. Haning location. Not because business is slow, but because business is extremely good.
“This location is limiting me from growing a little more.” said Avila. “There is so much that we can do, but the size of the kitchen limits us.”
Avila says she loves Howe and does not want to move, but says that at some point soon, she will need a bigger kitchen. Her prediction is that her two-year anniversary of Abby’s will take place in a new location.
“I love being downtown and seeing how everything is changing.” said Avila. “Just in one year, downtown has changed so much and become so alive. I liked it before, but now it’s even better.”
Lillian Avila is not only great at cooking, but she is a tremendous marketer of her business. Other restaurants previous to her did not have the opportunity to advertise their business to the mass quantities of citizens. With the reemergence of the local online Howe Enterprise, Avila took full advantage of the low cost of advertising to 7,000 plus readers. Along with that and her Facebook marketing presence, Abby’s Restaurant has become one of the true marketing success stories in downtown Howe.
“A lot of people think that opening up a business is easy and that you’re going to hire all of these people and just watch.” said Avila. “That’s not how it works. I’m always working and always thinking about how to improve.”