Establishing a successful restaurant is not an easy thing to achieve. Developing a formula for success across multiple restaurants that offer various types of foods and dining styles is not only challenging, but quite an accomplishment. The Chattanooga area boasts numerous restaurant executives that have led or currently lead many types of eateries not only locally, but around the world. Most have had their share of setbacks, but in the end have found strategies for success in the food service industry. The people of this city have the good fortune of enjoying the delicious fruits of their labor.
Scott Adams
Owner: Foodworks, Four Bridges Catering, and Float
Scott Adams did not grow up with a vision of going into the restaurant industry. While in college, he started working in the restaurant industry and immediately fell in love with everything about it. Adams’ foray into opening restaurants began when he lived in Atlanta where he worked for nine years, opening twelve independent concept restaurants for two Atlanta-based companies. This experience served Adams well and equipped him with the know-how to open up a restaurant of his own.
In 2006, Adams, together with partner Troy Sutton, opened Foodworks on Manufacturers Road in Chattanooga. Adams explains his choice of locations: “I grew up here and went to college here. I left Chattanooga but came back to visit a couple of times after the downtown and North Shore renaissance and saw a great deal of opportunity in a market dominated by chain restaurants. I knew that customers would appreciate the intimacy and personality of a local restaurant as opposed to the national chains, who have to cater to a much larger audience.”
Adams’ restaurant business is growing steadily. He owns Four Bridges Catering and is in the process of opening an innovative new restaurant called Float aboard a 167-foot boat. Float will be a small plate sushi restaurant, featuring environmentally sustainable fish species and a highly evolutionary menu. The date for Float’s opening is not set in stone at this point, but Adams hopes for early fall. He also has two other innovative restaurant concepts currently in negotiations for the Chattanooga area.
The success of Foodworks is not something Adams takes for granted. He explains, “I think I had a good idea, but I find that surrounding myself with a lot of good people who are a whole lot better than I am is key. I just hold onto the reigns and keep it pointed in the right direction, and the rest takes care of itself. When the people that you work with see that you really have a passion for what you do, they feed off of that and are driven and motivated by it.” Adams sees great things in his future but plans to take it slowly. He says, “We don’t want to grow too fast because I want to make sure that no matter what, when people think of my restaurants, they think of quality.”
Allen Corey
President and CEO: Gordon Biersch Brewing Corporation
Allen Corey began his career in the restaurant business in 1993 when he and a team of 12 other initial investors, including Tim Hennen, Rob Gentry, and Jon Kinsey (who would later become mayor), opened Big River Grille in Chattanooga. The restaurant came just as the downtown was on the cusp of some major changes, and Big River has become a standard for delicious food, a casual atmosphere, and great tasting beers brewed right on the property, the first to do so in-house in Chattanooga.
Corey’s restaurant business has grown significantly in the fifteen years since Big River Grille opened its doors. He describes the current business, Gordon Biersch: “We own 37 restaurants across the United States. Our lead brand is Gordon Biersch, and we operate from Honolulu to Washington, D.C. to Miami. We just opened in Taiwan with Asian partners, and that is going well. We hope to continue to expand in Asia. We also hope to expand our seafood concept, Blue Water Grille, which started in Jacksonville, Florida, and which now includes three restaurants.” Corey describes Gordon Biersch, the core brand of his company, as “upper casual dining, diverse American cuisine coupled with bold international flavors.”
The Big River Grille has made quite a few changes since it started serving patrons in 1993. The menu has changed dramatically. In an effort to keep customers coming back while simultaneously conducting a little research and development, Big River Grille and all of the Gordon Biersch restaurants change their menus twice annually and offer quarterly specials. Big River has also made some physical expansions, adding three locations to the repertoire. You can now enjoy the delicious Big River food and brew while in Nashville, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, and at an additional Chattanooga location near Hamilton Place mall.
Corey attributes his exceptional success in the restaurant business to three factors. He says that it is, “our people, our company’s focus on our guests, and our service and hospitality culture.” Corey adds, “We have great employees that really value the people who come and spend their money in our restaurants during their free time.” Explaining the Gordon Biersch philosophy, Corey says, “Our foundation for our hospitality and service culture is our operating procedures and our training programs for management, as well as hourly employees.” Added to the mix, of course, are the immense culinary talents, menu evolution, and quality of the food. Corey’s plans for the next ten years are simple. He states, “I hope we continue to operate successful restaurants and grow at a reasonable rate.”
Karen and Lawton Haygood
Owners: Boathouse Rotisserie and Raw Bar, Canyon Grill, and Sugar’s Ribs
Karen and Lawton Haygood didn’t conduct a cost-benefit analysis before opening their first restaurant. Fueled by youthful romanticism and a desire to live near the beach, the Haygoods purchased Turtle Cove, a waterfront restaurant in Port Aransas, Texas in the 70s. They jumped headfirst into a business that they knew nothing about and were met with substantial obstacles, among them Hurricane Allen and the Campeche Oil Spill.
The Haygoods found their way to Chattanooga in the 80s and briefly quit the restaurant business to pursue other interests. They returned to the business with a short-lived restaurant in the Scenic City called Rio Café. Lawton Haygood explains, “Rio Café was way ahead of the Chattanooga trends during that period. It was the wrong location and not enough money for the way things worked in Chattanooga at the time. I think it would be a great concept now.”
The Haygoods refused to give up on Chattanooga and in 1996 decided to give it another go. They wanted to make sure to take things slow to increase the chances of success. Lawton says, “We were confident in our ability to produce a special product, but we worried about another big investment. We did Canyon Grill on a low budget with only 35 seats. It was hard work, and we both worked positions while holding down other jobs. We later increased the seating to 95 and then to its current 150 seats. After that success, we were drawn to the old Sandbar location and built the Boathouse [in 2002].”
The Haygoods have a tried and true strategy for opening and growing a restaurant. Haygood explains, “We always start with a very limited menu, focused on the core products of the concept. Once we systemize those items, we slowly expand the menu to fill in the products to balance out customer tastes and storage and to balance the flow of the kitchen.” This has proven to be highly effective, and the Haygoods recently created a new concept. Lawton says, “We opened Sugar’s Ribs last year on the ridge cut. We have now opened another Sugar’s Ribs in St. Elmo. Our barbeque concept was to produce a simple ‘roadside barbeque-type’ menu. No frills, limited service, and focused management of freshness. It is difficult for a barbeque restaurant to achieve freshness like you can in the backyard, but we are doing a pretty good job of it.”
The Haygoods attribute their success to a loyal staff and to having the patience it takes to stick with their strategy of slow expansion and low budget starts. They look forward to expanding upon their current restaurants in the next few years. Haygood explains, “We don’t plan on doing any new concepts. We enjoy building our people, looking for ways to improve the existing products, and tinkering with new ideas.”
Tim Hennen
Chairman and CEO: Hennen Restaurant Group
Getting a leg up in the restaurant industry is very difficult, especially for a novice. Tim Hennen had the benefit of a great mentor. He explains, “As a young kid I was fortunate to have a neighbor, Chris Gulas, who was vice president of Shoney’s. Mr. Gulas took me under his wing and taught me about the restaurant business, from the kitchen to the dining room and parts in between, as well as about people and the value of a strong work ethic. I think he would be proud of the way I turned out.” Hennen put his knowledge to work in June of 1973 when he opened his first restaurant, Yesterday’s, on Patten Parkway in Chattanooga. Yesterday’s was in business for 25 years.
Deciding where to open a restaurant was never a problem for Hennen because he was drawn to Chattanooga. “It was really the only natural thing for me to do. I was essentially raised here, and most of my family resides in Chattanooga. I learned the business here and have enjoyed being a part of Chattanooga’s growth,” he explains. Tim has found success with Hennen’s downtown. “We update our menu on a daily basis to stay current with what our guests want, as well as the latest trends in food and wine,” he says of the restaurant’s philosophy. In addition to Hennen’s, Tim Hennen has two other restaurant businesses in Chattanooga: Greyfriar’s Coffee and Tea and Big River Grille and Brewing Works. The latter he helped open and remains attached to but is not actively involved in. He is proud of the restaurant and its continued growth, as well as the success his friend Allen Corey has had within the Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Group.
Hennen Restaurant Group is a family affair. “Michael, my oldest son, is in management at Hennen’s. Janie, my youngest, is returning to us next week. My four brothers, Jimmy, Johnny, Denny, Mike, and my sister, Mary, are all investors within Hennen’s. Johnny is also the president and operating partner of Bones Smokehouse,” he explains. Hennen attributes his success, in part, to the unwavering support that his family provides him, as well as his top-notch investors and superb staff. He looks forward to the next ten years and hopes they bring growth and success for Hennen Restaurant Group.
The Kyriakidis Family
The Acropolis Grill and Niko’s
The restaurant business is not something that the Kyriakidis family happened upon. It is something that is deeply rooted in the family tradition. Teddy Kyriakidis, the patriarch of the family, came to America from Greece as a teenager. Kimberly Kyriakidis George, Teddy’s daughter and part-owner of The Acropolis, tells her father’s story: “My father came over to the United States from Greece in 1951 with two dollars in his pocket and not a word of English in his vocabulary. He went to work in New Jersey for his uncle. After learning the restaurant trade, seven years later he purchased and managed his own restaurant, Harry’s Grill on the boardwalk in Asbury Park.” Seven years following that, Teddy grew into a larger 24-hour diner in Neptune, New Jersey. Just a few years later, he left the shores of New Jersey to bigger restaurants in the Big Apple.
It was Kimberly who ultimately determined the family’s fate. Faced with the harsh reality of his youngest daughter riding the subway to and from middle school in New York City, Teddy decided to relocate the family to Chattanooga where his wife Betty’s family lived. Teddy and his wife owned and ran Little Athens from 1982 to 1995. They sold Little Athens in 1995 and opened The Acropolis with their children Savas, Kimberly, Nick and Teddy Jr.
The formula at The Acropolis has been a successful one. The aesthetics of the restaurant have changed little since it opened its doors, but the menu has expanded significantly. Savas Kyriakidis, son of Teddy and part-owner of the Acropolis, describes the evolution of the food: “We opened with set recipes, but what has happened is the Acropolis has done for Greek cuisine what was done to Italian cuisine years ago. We took traditional Mediterranean spices and blended them in new ways. You won’t find our items in other Greek restaurants although they will have the same flavors of the Mediterranean.”
Last year, the Kyriakidis family expanded their empire. Inspired by his father, Nick opened Niko’s on the Southside. Described by Nick as “classical Mediterranean with a Southern twist,” Nick attributes the success of Niko’s to his father and to growing up in the business. He says, “When you have a father who’s been in the business since 1951, a lot of stuff becomes second nature.”
Instilled with a solid work ethic from their father and an in-depth knowledge of the restaurant business, the Kyriakidis family has treated Chattanooga to a delicious array of wonderful cuisine.
Daniel Lindley
Chef and Owner: St. John’s Restaurant, St. John’s Meeting Place, and Alleia
Daniel Lindley’s passion for the restaurant business started at an early age. He explains, “I first became interested in cooking as a teenager. My first restaurant job was washing dishes at Back Inn Café. I was immediately inspired by the business: the smells, the adrenaline, everything.” Lindley’s first restaurant was St. John’s Restaurant. The restaurant was originally owned by Lindley’s brother, Nathan, and Daniel came on as a partner a year after it opened. Ultimately, Daniel purchased St. John’s with his business partner, Josh Carter, in 2004, and Nathan moved to Nashville to open Watermark Restaurant. St. John’s Restaurant has become one of Chattanooga’s finest, offering what Lindley describes as “high quality regional American cuisine and impeccable service.”
Lindley added a new concept, St. John’s Meeting Place, to his restaurant family in 2004. The restaurant, which he describes as “a casual alternative to St. John’s Restaurant” has become a popular spot in Chattanooga’s downtown area. This fall, Lindley will introduce Alleia to the South Village on 25 Main Street. “Named after a Pompeian priestess, Alleia will serve Italian fare with an emphasis on wood-fired pizzas (cooked in a custom, 14-foot high, wood-burning oven), house-made pastas, and local farm goods,” Lindley says.
Lindley’s success in the restaurant business has been the result of lots of hard work by himself, his business partner, and his employees. He explains, “Our success is to some extent the result of skill, but, more importantly, is a reflection of the hard work and passion that every staff member puts forth on a daily basis. We work very hard and expect our employees to do the same.” Pride is not something that comes easy to Lindley, but he has found a great deal of it in St. John’s Restaurant and St. John’s Meeting Place, as well as the upcoming Alleia. He says, “If I am proud of however many restaurants I have ten years from now, that is what is most important to me. It takes a lot to make me proud of something.”
Chattanooga’s restaurateurs have helped shape the culinary culture in the Scenic City. Through innovation, hard work and dedicated staffs, these executives have created dining options in Chattanooga and beyond that are not only numerous, but filled with enough diverse flavors to suit any palette.