Nashville's Puckett's restaurant coming to Scenic City riverfront

photo Site of proposed Puckett's Grocery and Restaurant.
photo A Puckett's restaurant is pictured in this file photo.

A prime location near Chattanooga's downtown waterfront will house the first Scenic City location for Puckett's, the longstanding Nashville-area group of restaurants.

Puckett's will take over the space that TGI Friday's had occupied next to the Tennessee Aquarium, with plans to open in early spring 2015.

"We've been wanting to come to Chattanooga for a couple years now," said Andy Marshall, owner of Puckett's Gro. & Restaurant. "I love what the city is about. I love how active the city is ... that it has so many good independent operators."

River City Co., a nonprofit downtown development organization, started courting Puckett's to come to Chattanooga about two years ago, Marshall said.

The restaurant was gearing up plans to pursue a different location, then the 2 Broad St. site opened up.

"I wouldn't have come up with a better location than this," said Marshall said.

Puckett's has a 10-year lease for the space with two five-year options, Marshall said. The restaurant plans to employ 70 people. Jon Kinsey, president of Kinsey, Probasco and Hays, the managing partner for the building that houses the restaurant, in late September had said that several people were interested in the location and a new tenant was forthcoming.

Known for its southern comfort food, Puckett's brand extends back to the 1950s with a small grocery store in the village of Leiper's Fork, Tenn. Today, Puckett's Grocery & Restaurant has locations in downtown Franklin, downtown Nashville and downtown Columbia.

Marshall plans to create a more expansive dining atmosphere in the 6,750-square-foot Chattanooga space, making it conducive to live music sessions. Construction could start as early as December.

"We need that essence of one main dining room that people can see and be seen in and listen to music," Marshall said.

Puckett's makes everything from scratch, including its barbecue, an 18-hour process, Marshall said. It sources its food from local farms as much as it can, he said.

TGI Fridays operated at the Broad Street location from 1993 until late September, when it closed abruptly. The restaurant included more than 200 seats and operated as a franchise before the parent company acquired the location in 1996.

A. Marshall Family Foods, which owns and operates Puckett's, ranked 978 this year on Inc. magazine's list of the nation's 5,000 fastest growing companies. The Franklin, Tenn.-based company had $13.7 million in revenue in 2013 and a three-year growth rate of 457 percent, according to the magazine.

Puckett's restaurants have been recognized in local communities for best barbecue and meat, best live music venue and best place to work, according to a press release from the company.

Contact staff writer Mitra Malek at mmalek@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6406.

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