Mocs News Reporting the news that matters most to UTC
By Tate Scott
CHATTANOOGA, TENN (mocsnews.com) – The state of our world, amidst a pandemic and ever-changing economic system, has caused the service industry as a whole to undergo many changes. Even right in our backyard, there have been many new restaurant openings that came along with the many closings.
In Chattanooga, restaurants have closed, opened, changed ownership, changed locations, and even have scheduled grand openings in the months to come. Places like Blue Plate, Sofa King Juicy Burger, and Mojo Burrito fell victim to the worsening pandemic and were forced to shut their doors.
To accompany the many losses, there have been amazing beginnings. Months prior, Agave and Rye joined the community, bringing a new culture of food to Chestnut Street. Just this month, Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux opened its doors to the public on Broad Street, the former home of Blue Water Grille, just in time for Rock the Riverfront.
Ashlyn Flatt, a server at Walk-On’s, described her feelings about their grand opening in an interview. “You can tell the city is excited to have a new sports bar in such an amazing location downtown just by looking at our business in our first few weeks of opening. I think we bring a good atmosphere to the community and I hope other restaurants are able to follow our lead and revive the locations the pandemic took away.”
Walk-On’s is still accepting applications, bringing more job opportunities to Chattanooga.
All of these closings and openings have been affected by a number of things: food cost, supply cost, staffing crisis, and our ever-changing state of our country. These changes have caused the food industry to get creative when servicing guests, such as to-go alcohol and introducing new ways of utilizing technology.
As the peak of the pandemic seems to be coming to a close just in time for summer, the hope for our city is to bring back the same indoor and outdoor dining experiences as before. Openings to keep an eye on for 2022 include Cherry Street Brewing, Peach Cobbler Factory, and Chattanooga Seafood Co.
