Taziki's Mediterranean Café — which has Southeast Tennessee restaurants in downtown Chattanooga, East Brainerd and Cleveland — is expanding next month by adding another local eatery at the Shoppes at Hamill complex in Hixson.
Franchise owner Brad Emendorfer, who grew up working in his father's restaurant and opened Chattanooga's first Taziki's in 2011, said he has been eager to expand the franchise into the Hixson market for years after adding a second unit in Chattanooga on Gunbarrel Road in 2013. Although an initial plan was delayed when the franchise expanded into Cleveland first, Emendorfer said an opportunity to open a new eatery near Northgate mall opened up last year after California Tortilla (which opened in 2019) shut down.
"Our strategy was to establish ourselves and our identity downtown where people work and then build our catering and lunch and dinner crowd where people live in East Brained and Hixson," Emendorfer said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "We try to offer something for everybody in the family, and with more people being more health conscious and looking for something different, we see a lot of opportunity in Chattanooga."
Taziki's is an American fast casual chain of franchised restaurants based in Birmingham that purveys Greek and Mediterranean cuisine such as gyros, sandwiches, soups, and salads.
The new 2,500-square-foot restaurant in Hixson will be the smallest of the three Taziki's that Emendorfer has opened, but he said the new restaurant will still include 60 or more seats inside and another 12 to 15 outside. Emendorfer expects to generate a lot of pick-up and delivery business from the new location.
Similar to the other Taziki's, the new Hixson store will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.
Photo by Dave Flessner / The Shoppes at Hamill center at Highway 153 and Hamill Road, which now includes a variety of restaurants, retail shops and medical offices, will be getting a new Taziki's Mediterranean Café by early February.Emendorfer, a graduate of Clemson University who has also worked as a tennis coach and teacher, said the new restaurant will employ about 25 to 30 full- and part-time workers and has begun recruiting managers for the new eatery, which Emendorfer hopes to open in early February.
"Our playbook is to get the best team together, and we believe our hospitality and this great brand makes us successful," he said.
Taziki's will join a half dozen other restaurants along Highway 153 and Hixson Pike near Northgate that have either recently opened or are planning to soon open, including Buddy's Bar-b-q, Miller's Ale House, McAlister's Deli and Popeye's Louisiana Chicken which are already open and two new entries entering into the Chattanooga market this year — Big Chicken in a former Steak 'n Shake site on Hixson Pike and a Cava restaurant being built behind the Logan's Roadhouse on Highway 153.
"Hixson is a great market with a real opportunity for growth" as Chattanooga continues to grow, said Clint Wolford, who developed the Shoppes at Hamill in 2018. "We have been selling Hixson since we developed Oak Park Town Center in 2001 and I think demand is only going to increase," Wolford said in an emailed statement about his newest tenant.
(READ MORE: Northgate Mall looks for redevelopment)
Key Brooks, director of operations for Taziki's in Chattanooga, said "many of our guests in Chattanooga are from the Hixson area and have asked if this was in the plans."
"With the growth of the community and support from so many loyal guests, the timing is right," Brooks said in an email.
Brooks said the Taziki's brand offers a fresh, healthier alternative when dining out.
"We think that there is always a way to make healthy taste good," Brook said.
(READ MORE: Shuttered Hixson restaurant sells for $1.5 million)
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6340.
Photo by Dave Flessner / Taziki's Mediterranean Café opened its first restaurant in downtown Chattanooga at 432 Broad Street in 2011. After adding other Tennessee units in East Brainerd and Cleveland, franchise owner Brad Emendorfer is planning to open another location in Hixson next month.