When one door closes, another one opens.
Lately, these doors have the name of a restaurant on them.
Since April, several high-profile Memphis restaurants have closed. Reasons include staffing, crime, leases running out, and so on.
But announcements for more brand-new restaurants have also popped up in recent months.
One of those slated to open is the eagerly-awaited, new restaurant from Felicia Willett-Schuchardt, owner of the old Felicia Suzanne’s on North Main. I ran into Willett-Schuchardt at a couple of tasting fundraisers. She told me she planned to open her new restaurant in the fall. That’s in the old Spindini restaurant space at 383 South Main Street.
That’s great news. But then I began hearing about closings.
Edge Alley at 600 Monroe Avenue was the harbinger when Tim Barker announced his restaurant would close December 10, 2023. He told me he decided to close “for a number of reasons.” Number one? “I feel it had started to become unsustainable,” he said.
Closing Edge Alley “makes the most sense. I don’t want to lower the quality of the product, change our service standard, cut staff. Now is kind of the time for me. Also, my lease is up. So, everything is all at once. Rising costs, lease is up, and then maybe the concept has run its course.”
Then came Bounty on Broad, which announced its closing on April 3rd on Facebook. “Today, with a heavy yet grateful heart, Bounty on Broad announces its closure, effective immediately …”
Not long after that, more and more restaurants began following suit.
Dory, a fine dining restaurant at 716 West Brookhaven Circle, closed June 29th. The restaurant, owned by executive chef David Krog and his wife, Amanda, opened in 2021 during the pandemic.
David told me in an interview, “It’s been coming since the day we opened. We were brand-new and unestablished and not on anybody’s radar, either. We didn’t get the honeymoon. These aren’t excuses. These are just what happened. There is no excuse. It was sad. The restaurant business is tough. For us, we didn’t make it.”
I wrote about Maximo’s when it announced it was going to close the same day Dory closed. Amy Zuniga, who owned the restaurant at 2617 Broad Avenue with her husband, Julio, told me, “There’s not enough business to sustain us. And we’ve been short-staffed and can’t find anyone. We can’t keep going, unfortunately.”
And, she said, “We’ve been trying to hang in there for awhile, but it’s just gotten to this point where there’s only so much hanging on we can do.”
Fino’s From the Hill at 7781 Farmington Boulevard, Suite 101, is now closed. But the other location at 1853 Madison Avenue is still open. Owner Kelly English says, “The lease was up and it made sense for us to close and focus on one location rather than to sign on again. There is nothing else to it.”
A shocker was the recent announcement of the closing of Bishop, the elegant Downtown restaurant owned by Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman in Central Station Hotel.
The hotel’s Facebook page says it “will be opening a brand-new restaurant this fall.”
I was stunned when I heard Jeff Fioranelli announced his restaurant, Buckley’s Grill, was closing in June after 30 years.
“Our lease was up at the end of August regardless,” Fioranelli says. “And, frankly, I had made a commitment five years ago to sign on for one more five-year term. Regardless of what my partner wanted to do after that, it was time. I figure 30 years in the trenches was enough for me. If he wanted to go on, so be it.
“The climate has gotten so difficult for so many reasons,” Fioranelli says. “The restaurant industry is getting hammered from all sides. Especially in Memphis.”
He saw customers who live outside of Memphis “less frequently. A lot did not want to risk driving to Memphis from outlying areas. Collierville. Bartlett.”
Because of crime or the perception of it, they now feel it’s “a lot safer if you go out of the city limits. Asking someone to leave Collierville to come to town when you’ve got so many options is not something we can bank on.”
Will Fioranelli open another restaurant? “I have a passion for the business. But when you step out of this business and look in, you realize there are forces beyond your control at this point that you just can’t fight. A business in another area? Possibly. But right now I think I’m just going to grow my hair out like you did.”
The good news is more restaurants are opening.
Hard Times Deli at 655 Marshall Avenue in the Edge District has a planned fall opening. “We’re directly across the street from Sun Studio,” says Harrison Downing, one of the chef/owners along with Schuyler O’Brien and Cole Jeanes. “It’s the building next door to the Edge Motor Museum.”
The famous hamburger-making “Patty Daddy” members of the “Secret Smash Society” will serve “elevated deli sandwiches.” It’s similar to how Kinfolk, which is owned by Jeanes, does its elevated breakfasts, Downing says. “We’ll take all our fine dining training and make it an elevated sandwich shop.”
With the “cost of food now” and “places closing,” opening a new restaurant is daunting. But, as for their concept, Downing says, “Everybody seems excited about us bringing this to Memphis.”
A news release says Cocozza American Italian owners Patrick and Deni Reilly, who also own the Majestic Grill, are slated to open a second location of the restaurant this winter at 919 South Yates. It states, “The Reillys look to fill the same niche for busy East Memphis families as they do at their original location in Harbor Town, by providing family-friendly, classic American Italian fare in a casual full-service restaurant with a fun, funky dining room that evokes memories of eating in your favorite grandmother’s kitchen.”
Meanwhile, the Tandem Restaurant Group is moving and shaking things up around town.
Ben Yay’s at 51 South Main Street is closing “probably at the end of this month,” says Tony Westmoreland with the group which owns Ben Yay’s.
Why? “There’s just absolutely no traffic down there.”
But, he adds, “We’re not going to lose the concept. We’re going to move the concept to Sugar Grits.”
That will make Sugar Grits at 150 Peabody Place, Suite 111, a combination of “North Carolina and Creole-inspired cuisines.”
Tandem, which owns several restaurants, has been busy. “We’re trying to pivot and use spaces we have commitments in. We’re not looking for anything brand-new.”
The “pinch” in the restaurant business began happening in August of last year, Westmoreland says. “And it has not let up.”
Sales at their restaurants, mostly Downtown, have been lower this year than last year. “May kicked everybody Downtown in the teeth. We didn’t even beat a normal month with all the events and stuff.”
The group’s Carolina Watershed at 141 East Carolina Avenue closed in January. “We put it on the market. We have a couple of people looking at it. We felt like we were going to get it sold before summer is over, but it hasn’t happened yet.”
But, Westmoreland says, they might put in a pop-up for their new Memphis Original Gangsta Fried Chicken restaurant at the old Carolina Watershed until the new restaurant opens at 786 Echols Street. Chef Duncan Aiken will be serving his “gangsta fried chicken” with his special sauce at the pop-up as well as the new restaurant. And he’ll serve soul food, including corn bread, mac and cheese, greens, and smashed potatoes. “It’s going to be like a chicken spot with some sides. That will probably be September before we get that one rolling.”
Uncle Red’s, which was going to open at the Echols address, is now going to open in August at 2583 Broad Avenue, the original site of Salt|Soy, which has now combined with Alchemy Memphis at 940 Cooper Street. Uncle Red’s will serve smoked turkey legs based on family recipes from FreeSol, lead singer of the alternative band also called FreeSol. FreeSol, aka Christopher Anderson, will be the operating partner at the restaurant, which will serve lunch and dinner. “It’ll be a fun menu. But the majority of it will be based around turkey and smoked products.”
Front Street Deli, also owned by Tandem, is slated to be open by July 18th. The restaurant at 77 South Front Street will be run by Westmoreland, Aiken, Stephanie Westmoreland, Julien Salley, and Nick Scott. “Duncan is doing the sandwich portion and part of the pasta portion. And Nick is finishing up the pasta portion.”
The pasta portion will feature their new brand, “Pasta Cosa Nostra,” which will be pasta served in small containers so people can walk up and down the street and eat it.
Another Tandem business, Old Zinnie’s, which has been closed since May, will be back. The bar/restaurant at 1688 Madison Avenue will be called “Zinnie’s,” but they will primarily serve authentic-style Phillys — Philadelphia shaved steak. The real Phillys. And Cheese Whiz.”
They plan to re-open Zinnie’s in August, if not sooner. “We’re doing a little bit of remodeling right now ’cause it just needs a cleanup. We will be reopening as non-smoking. So, that’s going to be your game changer.”
