Several new restaurants have opened in the last month and several others are scheduled to open their doors at the first of the New Year. Representatives from these businesses came before the Chattanooga Beer Board Thursday to request a permit to serve and sell beer along with food.
Back Yard Grille at 4021 Hixson Pike opened in November. Owner Lisa Esterday described her business as a steak restaurant with a bar in it. She told the board that it is family friendly with backyard furniture and porch swings inside and with toys for children.
It is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Six employees will have TIPS training which is intended to prevent intoxication, underage drinking and drunk driving, and one or two of them will be in the restaurant at all times. The ABC will train the other 20 employees in January. She was unanimously granted the permit.
Stone Cup Café at 330 Frazier Ave. will replace Stone Cup Coffee at the first of January. Owner Chuck Megahee said this will still be primarily a coffee shop and that beer is only expected to make up 10 percent of sales. He has restaurant experience being the owner of six Subway shops. The previous owner will stay to train employees and his manager has experience is the sale of beer, he told the beer board, which granted a beer license to the business.
Edward Daniels was also given a beer permit for his new restaurant, City Limits Lounge at 211 W. 45th St. He explained that this is a second job for him and his first venture into this type of business. He expects to sell food to surrounding businesses, and will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. six days a week. The board voted to award a license to this restaurant when the license from a previous business at the same address is surrendered and with the conditions that all employees will receive TIPS training since the owner and manager have no prior experience n the sale of alcohol.
Hooters at 5912 Brainerd Road is changing ownership. Shane Clagg, general manager, has worked for Hooters six years and has been in this location for the last three. Representing the new owners, Derby Wings, LLC, Mr. Clagg said that in order to make sure that customers drink responsibly, a server will monitor the consumption of patrons and will notify a manager if a problem is perceived or if an I.D. looks unusual. A clock that is hanging on the wall also displays the year required in order to be served alcohol. A manager is present at all times, he said. A motion to give a beer permit to the restaurant was approved.
Kumo, a Japanese restaurant at 6025 East Brainerd Road, has a new owner, Ivy Zhang, and was approved to sell beer. She has worked at the business for several years and said she is familiar with and understands all the beer codes. The majority of employees will continue to work for Ms. Zhang and have been trained in alcohol sales. Kumo will be open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and until 10:30 on the weekends.
A carry-out beer license was approved for a Chattanooga Value Mart; a new store selling groceries at 1308 E. Main St. B. Mukesh Patel, who has worked at Harry’s #7 for six years, has bought that business and will retain the same employees who are trained to check IDs using a computer program. He was given a permit to sell beer, as was Murad Gilani for his business, Vicky Food Mart at 6800 Shallowford Road.
Vice Chairperson James Hobbs addressed those present to thank Christopher Keene, past chairman of the beer/wrecker board, for his service. He then asked for nominations of board officers for the year of 2013.
Kevin McKenna was nominated for secretary, Phillip Sallee for vice chairperson, and James Hobbs for chairman of the board. All three were unanimously elected to the respective positions for the upcoming year.