Eleven years after opening his first restaurant at the Fuji Steak & Sushi restaurant in Chattanooga, Canton, Georgia, restaurateur Quanren Lin is preparing to open a seafood restaurant in a former Applebee's restaurant near Hamilton Place Mall.
Known as the Volcano Crab and Bar restaurants, the new eatery at 2342 Shallowford Village Drive is scheduled to open in the next month or two and will feature a variety of lobster tail, shrimp, steak, and crab leg entrees. Joyce Lin, who like Quanren Lin emigrated to the United States from Hong Kong to enter the restaurant business, said the Volcano Crab and Bar will be open daily from 11 a.m.. to 10 p.m. with luncheon and dinner menus.
The restaurant is expected to have 15 to 20 employees initially and hiring for the new workers should begin next month.
Despite the limitations on restaurants due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lin said the Shallowford Village site along Interstate 75 is well located and should do well, especially as the economy opens up again over time.
"We chose this location seeing the potential for a growing market in Chattanooga," Lin said. "Fuji Steak & Sushi is located in the same area (at 2207 Overnite Drive) so we are established and familiar with this area. We saw a need for a seafood restaurant and this type of restaurant is popular with all ages and ethnicity groups."
Lin opened the Fuji Steak and Sushi restaurants in November 2009 and went on to also open Volcano Steak & Sushi restaurants in Acworth and Kennesaw, Georgia and in West Berlin New Jersey; the Okinawa Steak & Sushi restaurant in Canton, Georgia; Pacific Spice in Acworth, Georgia, and Volcano Asian Bistro in Alpharetta, Georgia.
The new Volcano Steak & Sushi restaurant is one of several new ventures that Lin is now developing in Georgia and New Jersey, Lin said.
"We also have more restaurants looking to open next year," Lin said. "We will have a Volcano Steak & Sushi, Volcano grilled fish, and a bubble tea shop all located in Atlanta. Another Volcano Steak & Sushi will be opening in Hiram, Georgia. In New Jersey, there will be a second Volcano Steak & Sushi in Maple Shade.
Lin purchased the shuttered Applebee's restaurant on Shallowford Village Drive for $1.22 million in May, according to Hamilton County property records. The 4,316-square-foot restaurant was built in 1990.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.
Photo by Dave Flessner / Volcano Crab and Bar restaurant is being built at the former Applebee's restaurant site at 2342 Shallowford Village Drive.