The Chop House in East Brainerd is closing this month after 25 years in business.
The Knoxville-based steakhouse chain, which opened its Chattanooga restaurant at 2011 Gunbarrel Road in 1994 as the company’s fourth unit, will close the 7,088-square-foot eatery on Jan. 15. The shutdown is the first for the Chop House chain, which restaurateur Mike Connor started in Knoxville in 1992 after previously managing Steak & Ale restaurants in Knoxville and in Brainerd in the late 1970s.
“Of the 11 Chop House restaurants we have opened this will be the first we have closed, but it’s just become a very competitive market in that area and it’s been more difficult than our other units,” Connor said Friday. “It just came down to a point where it is no longer successful. I still like the Chattanooga market and we may be looking for other locations around that region in the future.”
Over the past two decades, dozens of new restaurants have opened at and around Hamilton Place, including nearby rivals such as Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, the Miller’s Ale House, the Cheesecake Factory, Drake’s and and others.
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