When a Pigeon Forge restaurateur started eyeing Chattanooga for an expansion, the opening up of a highly visible site at the fast-growing Ooltewah exit of Interstate-75 piqued his interest.
“That exit has blown up with all kinds of stuff,” said Tom Horne, who with wife Sandye own and operate the Local Goat eatery. “There’s a lot of growth.”
Horne said plans are to open a Local Goat inside what had been the site of Puleo’s Grille at 6108 Artesian Circle at Exit 11 in December.
He has run Local Goat in Pigeon Forge for four years after working in the restaurant business for more than three decades – about half of that in Sevier County.
The “Local” part of the restaurant’s unusual name is simple enough – the eatery sources locally and works with area vendors, Horne said.
“We appreciate our locals,” he said. “They’re the backbone of our business.”
The second part of the name may hold two meanings, Horne said. It could be “Greatest Of All Time,” or he may be known as “the old goat,” the 55-year-old businessman quipped.
Either way, the restaurant is slated to initially employ about 90 workers when it opens, he said.
Horne said Local Goat offers a “new American” menu of steaks, chops, ribs and gourmet burgers.
“We try to take familiar foods and put an unusual twist on it,” he said. “We make our own juices, syrups. We make our own ketchup and sauces.”
Horne said that the offerings of large chains can become stale, but restaurants such as his are able to change on a dime.
“We reinvent the restaurant every day,” he said.
The restaurateur said he plans to put about $700,000 into the remodel of the building, which is just four years old.
“We started talking in March right before everything closed down,” Horne said.
Opening a new restaurant amid the coronavirus pandemic presents challenges, he added.
“You have to believe in the powers out there that they’re going to find a vaccine,” Horne said. “At the same time, it was another opportunity and we couldn’t pass on it.”
Ooltewah-Collegedale is one of the fastest growing parts of Hamilton County, and it’s seeing an array of development.
For example, McDonald, Tennessee, developer Jeff Londis is putting in a new phase at a business park off Lee Highway that could hold about 56,000 square feet in added space.
White Oak Crossing, which already holds an Aldi grocery store on Lee Highway and other businesses, is adding more medical, wellness, office and retail space in a $9 million expansion, he said.
Londis said the location is about midway between Chattanooga and Cleveland, Tennessee. In addition, Cambridge Square, a large, mixed-use development, is nearby.
“There’s a lot around us that serves as a draw,” he said.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.