Glen Meadows has worked at Wally's Restaurants since he was 12, but after 34 years running -- and eventually owning -- the Wally's in East Ridge, he said it's time to call it quits.
"This is bittersweet for me. This is all I've ever known," he said by phone Tuesday. "But it's my time."
Meadows has sold the property and said he doesn't know what the new owner will do with the location, but he said it will not be a Wally's. The restaurant will close March 18.
The property is within the East Ridge Border Region Development Region which gives owners certain tax incentives for improving older properties.
"East Ridge is booming and growing, and an opportunity came along I couldn't pass up," Meadows said.
Meadows, 60, went to work at the McCallie Avenue Wally's for family friend Tony Kennedy 48 years ago. After graduating from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Meadows said Kennedy convinced him to apply for a job at the Country Place in East Ridge.
Meadows said it was actually a spy mission because Kennedy wanted to know what his competition was up to. A few minutes into the interview, the owner said the family was actually looking to sell.
"'Well let's go buy it and put you in charge,'" Meadows recalled Kennedy saying. "I was 25, so I walked into about 60-62 people that really didn't care for me."
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Meadows bought the building about seven years later. He said his son, David, and daughter, Allison, grew up in the place.
His pre-pandemic staff numbered around 55, Meadows said, but once he cut back to lunches only, the staff dropped to about 15.
He said he's helping employees find new jobs when the restaurant closes, and some will transition to the Wally's on McCallie Avenue, owned by his younger brother, Gary Meadows.
"It's not going anywhere," Glen Meadows said of the McCallie location.
Meadows said he is also trying to get the word out to the many large groups that have scheduled events at his restaurant.
"Several of them were just getting back to having large numbers of people attend, too," he said. "I hate it, but it's time for a new chapter in my life."
One of the regular groups who met at Wally's in East Ridge was the Veterans of Radio Wars, a collection of current and past TV and radio people. Hanging on the wall is a shadow box featuring WDEF radio and TV legend Luther Masingill.
"I told Glen to not close up until we get that," David Carroll, Local 3 News on-air personality, said by phone.
Carroll was the longtime co-host of the radio group and said finding a place to meet will not be easy.
"My immediate thought is that it affects of lot people," Carroll said. "It provided a great meeting place with lots of parking, good food, great staff. It's been a real go-to place for me."
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.