Guthrie's to open second store in Chattanooga

The local franchise owners of a restaurant chain famous for its chicken fingers hope to soon grab chicken lovers in Brainerd.

Guthrie's will open their fourth area restaurant in early August when the the local franchise owners add a Guthrie's ToGo unit at 5203 Brainerd Road.

Unlike other Guthrie's units on Signal Mountain and in Trenton and Ringgold, the new 1,300-square-foot unit will have no inside seating and will employ only about half as many as the usual 20 to 25-employee staff at the existing restaurants.

But with most of the sales of chicken strip boxes and buckets already coming from drive-through business, the owners expect the new Brainerd location to fare well, even in the crowded menu of of fast-food options along Brainerd Road.

"We're sort of inundated with restaurants here, but Guthrie's chicken fingers are really unlike anything else out there," said Will Garrett, a co-owner of the local franchise who grew up loving the taste of Guthrie's chicken fingers and wings while he was a student at the University of Alabama. "We use the best filet of the chicken and everything we cook is made from fresh and cooked only a few minutes before we serve it."

Garrett said similar ToGo stores Guthrie's opened recently in the Florida Panhandle "and they are doing exceptionally well, so we wanted to try one in Chattanooga."

Garrett opened his first Guthrie's on Lookout Mountain in 2009, which he relocated to Trenton the next year. He joined with partner Grady Williams Jr. to later add other units on Signal Mountain and Ringgold, Ga.

"We've had a very good response in this area to Guthrie's and we think we'll do well here in Midtown," Williams said last week while hiring workers for the new Brainerd Road site, which boosters are now calling Midtown Chattanooga. "Brainerd Road has lots of traffic and Guthrie's has a bit of cult following."

Williams said he and Garrett "are taking it one store at a time,,." But he said there may be room for other Guthrie's in the area.

Guthrie's began in 1965 and pioneered the first chicken fingers restaurant concept 13 years later.

Hal Guthrie, who graduated from Auburn University, opened the first drive-in restaurant in Haleyville, Ala, just 30 miles north of his hometown of Jasper, serving a full menu of hamburgers, hamburger steaks, steak sandwiches, fried chicken, barbecue, fish sandwiches, salads and even fried shrimp.m But in 1978, Guthrie came into his restaurant and announced to his wife, Melissa, and their four children that they were going to begin serving chicken fingers.

Chicken fingers soon became the restaurant's biggest draw so Guthrie turned his focus on chicken fingers and accompanying sauces, selling meals by the box or the bucket. Other menu items were abandoned.

Guthrie's began franchise locations in 2005 and today there are 27 Guthrie's locations open n Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida and Kentucky. Other units are expected to soon open in Ohio.

The typical meal is $8 to $9, including a drink, Garrett said. The restaurant will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week. During football season, Garrett said the restaurants will stay open later on Friday night.

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340

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