For years, T.J. Jones tried to talk his friend and former Chattanooga resident Jeff Simmons into opening a store similar to one of his Ohio-based Seafood Station shops in Southeast Tennessee.
But it was not to be.
With Simmons nearing retirement and looking to turn his business over to family, Jones realized he would just have to open a similar establishment himself.
Jones had owned and operated a Mr. T’s Pizza and Ice Cream in Red Bank for several years before getting into the automated machinery business for several decades. He grew tired of the travel and began looking at opening another place of his own, and the seafood concept appealed to him.
Chattanooga Seafood Co. will open in the former Sofa King Juicy Burger location near the intersection of Dayton Boulevard and Signal Mountain Road in late January or early February, Jones said. Sofa King closed at the beginning of 2021 and will not reopen.