A national restaurant company that had its corporate headquarters in Chattanooga has shifted its home office to Nashville and apparently left a smaller staff here.
CraftWorks Holdings, the operator of Big River Grille, Old Chicago Pizza and, until recently, Bluewater Grille in Chattanooga, has moved its headquarters to Nashville and it has another site in Denver, said Josh Kern, the company's chief experience officer.
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CraftWorks traces its roots to Big River Breweries, which was founded by Chattanooga restaurateur Tim Hennon in 1993.
Kern said that after a merger last year brought together Logan's Roadhouse with CraftWorks brands Big River, Rock Bottom, Gordon Biersch and others, the company combined offices.
"When we announced the merger last year we consolidated offices and now the primary support center is in Nashville and we have a smaller support center in Denver as well," he said.
For many years, CraftWorks Restaurant & Breweries had a headquarters location at 201 W. Main St. in what's known as the CraftWorks Building where Feed restaurant is located. CraftWorks Holdings did not reveal how many people remain in Chattanooga.
In 2011, CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries had nearly 130 people in Chattanooga, according to news archives.
Chattanooga businessman Jon Kinsey, who owns the Main Street building, said the company has people in the structure, but not a lot of them.
"At some point they will be gone, but we don't know when," he said.
Kinsey said he still has a long-term lease with the company, and there are a lot of other interested parties in the space.
"I'm not concerned," he said. "It's unfortunate for the city. That's corporate America."
CraftWorks traces its roots to Big River Breweries, which was founded by Chattanooga restaurateur Tim Hennon in 1993. It acquired Gordon Biersch in 1999. Meanwhile, Rock Bottom Restaurants, founded in 1976, merged with Gordon Biersch in 2010 to become CraftWorks.
CraftWorks became a top operator and franchisor of brewery- and craft beer-focused casual dining restaurants, with more than 200 restaurants in 40 states. It employs more than 10,000 people.
Last November, the company announced the acquisition of Logan's Roadhouse and it became CraftWorks Holdings.
Hazem Ouf, the Nashville-based Logan's chief executive, became chairman and CEO of the new parent company, which now has 390 restaurants and breweries in 40 states and the District of Columbia.
At the time of the merger, it was announced that Centerbridge Partners L.P. controlled CraftWorks Holdings.
Last month, CraftWorks closed Bluewater Grille on Broad Street near Chattanooga's waterfront after 13 years. Kern said the company chose to shut down the eatery "as the landscape of downtown Chattanooga as evolved."
"We are in the process of identifying a potential CraftWorks Holdings brand or a totally new concept altogether," he said about the re-use of the site at 224 Broad St.
CraftWorks Holdings operates two Big River Grille eateries, a pair of Logan's Roadhouse restaurants and two Old Chicago locations in Chattanooga, all of which remain open, the company said.
CraftWorks is the second major restaurant chain to move its headquarters out of downtown Chattanooga in the past seven years. In 2012, Krystal Co., which started in Chattanooga in 1932 and has grown since to include 350 restaurants, moved its headquarters to Atlanta after the company was acquired by Argonne Capital Group.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.