Making the most out of a bad time

Tina Akers is the T in T’s Redneck Steakhouse, a popular Lebanon restaurant. The restaurant was a dream of hers that came out of a long career in the fast food industry. Akers spent 22 years working at Lebanon’s Burger King before leaving fast food behind to build T’s Redneck Steakhouse at 221 Evergreen Parkway in December of 2007. “When I sold out, I had been working on the plans for this for about eight months before we actually got our deal closed. Then I started building this. We built this. Been here almost 13 years,” Akers said. She looks forward to celebrating the anniversary with an August giveaway where every customer gets an envelope that reveals what they won. Prizes include glassware, T-shirts, hats and food. “Lebanon has some of the best people everywhere. Our customer base is absolutely phenomenal,” Akers said. She was able to say thank you to Lebanon residents for the last 13 years in another way during the COVID-19 shutdown by using her in-house distillery to brew up some 160 proof hand sanitizer during a time when it was very hard to get. For more on this story see Saturday's LCR.