Blue Plate on the riverfront, Mojo Burrito in St. Elmo to close
Chattanooga Salad Co. in East Brainerd also shuts down
The local restaurant scene is losing two mainstays as owners of The Blue Plate restaurant on the riverfront and Mojo Burrito in St. Elmo prepare to shut their doors.
“It’s hard to leave a concept you’ve nurtured for this long, but the time feels right,” said Rob Gentry, president of Blue Plate owner RAG Hospitality. “The fact that our lease was up for renewal in the current economic climate made us think about the future in new ways.”
The Blue Plate opened in 2006 at 191 Chestnut St. across from the Tennessee Aquarium. The ROBAR cocktail lounge next door debuted in 2015, and will also close at the end of the month.
Mojo Burrito owner Eve Williams said she struggled with the decision to close the St. Elmo location, and had fought to keep the restaurant open with carryout ordering and outdoor dining.
The Red Bank location of Mojo Burrito will remain open, making it the last remaining outpost of the local business that once had four. She still plans to move Mojo to a new location in Red Bank at 3512 Dayton Blvd., in the spot where a Shoney’s once stood, Williams said.
“I’m definitely going to throw a hail Mary at that and try to get the new store completed and move down the road,” she said. “It will be full service and quick service — the best of both worlds.”
Mojo first opened in St. Elmo in 2002, and the pandemic had strained her restaurants on multiple fronts, Williams said. She had to shift from a social, informal environment where customers stood shoulder-to-shoulder and watched employees prepare meals assembly-line style to one that kept customers outside and made it tough to find and keep staff.
“I know we’re not alone in this, it’s not just us,” she said.
Several employees at the Red Bank location of Mojo Burrito quit Thursday when they learned the restaurant will reopen its dining room on a limited basis, said Missouri McClanahan, who works at the restaurant. Customers will still need to order their food online, but they’ll have the option to take their carryout meals around to the dining room to eat, she said.
Gentry said the past 12 months have been tough for Blue Plate and ROBAR, but not all the impacts to the business have been negative.
“We are bullish about the restaurant industry and love Chattanooga, so it’s a good time for us to explore some new ideas,” he said. The space was “a wonderful home to us for 15 years and we’ve had a great run thanks to the amazing support from this community.”
Another restaurant with deep local roots, the Chattanooga Salad Company, also closed this week, but the owner said hopes to find a new place to land.
Mark Ankar first opened his restaurant off Shallowford Road 17 years ago, and moved seven years ago to 7425 Commons Blvd. near Home Depot. The pandemic had hurt his business, but he and his staff were adjusting, Ankar said.
“Business was down, but it was coming back,” he said. “We we were still off 20% or 30%, but we learned to manage, we were holding our own.”
When the new landlord raised rent from $3,600 to $5,600 a month and wanted four months of rent up front, however, he had to close down, Ankar said.
“We’re going to try to open somewhere else,” said Ankar, who has 13 employees, as well as family and friends who pitch in periodically. “It won’t be the same exact thing, but it will be good food and a lot of the same people.”
The pandemic has forced local restaurants to reinvent themselves, shifting abruptly to takeout, outdoor dining and limited indoor capacity. Many haven’t made it, and closures in the past year include local mainstays like Karl’s Family Restaurant in Hixson, Flatiron Deli on Georgia Avenue and Two Squares on Amnicola Highway.
Some local eateries have turned to philanthropic movements to survive. Blue Orleans restaurant downtown recently won a Barstool Fund grant to help them hang on, while Charlie’s Quick Stop BBQ and Bakery signed on for Plating Change.
In that program, “The Prophet” host Marcus Lemonis buys meals from restaurants, which then give them to people in need. He bought 700 meals at $10 each in November and December from Charlie’s, in addition to other eateries in other parts of the country.
Everyone has struggled during the pandemic, and keeping things in perspective has been crucial as he closes down the Chattanooga Salad Company and looks for his next step, Ankar said.
“Everybody’s in the same boat, and we’re pretty lucky,” he said. “As long as we’re healthy, we’ve got it all.”
At The Blue Plate, Gentry said the riverfront has been “fantastic” to the business over the years, though he added that the waterfront has changed a lot over the decade-and-a-half.
“I wish we’d see more locals down there,” he said. “That has been the backbone are locals and supporting local vendors.”
Gentry said he likes the effort underway by planners to take a new look at the riverfront. He said he has heard a suggestion of putting parallel parking on Chestnut Street to make it more pedestrian-friendly and he supports that idea.
“We are bullish about the restaurant industry and love Chattanooga, so it’s a good time for us to explore some new ideas.” – ROB GENTRY, PRESIDENT OF BLUE PLATE OWNER RAG HOSPITALITY