FSR September 2022

STARTMEUP YOUR STORIES OF OPENING A NEW RESTAURANT, OVERCOMING OBSTACLES, AND BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS.

When Elliston Place Soda Shop opened in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1939, Franklin Roos evelt was president and Alaska wasn’t even a state. Now, more than 80 years later, Ellis ton finds itself under new management after nearly closing for good in late 2019. When long-time customer and real estate developer Tony Giarratana purchased the business from its previous owners, the restaurant underwent a major transformation, reopening in a larger space next to the original. Though the updated shop is bringing in customers old and new, moving, revitalizing, and expanding the business was hardly a cakewalk. But as Jim Myers , the head of culture at Elliston and self-described “soda jerk,” tells it, celebrat ing the restaurant’s rich history guided the team through it all. EllistonPlaceSodaShop

A FACELIFT IS IN ORDER e guy who owned the original build ing told Tony [Giarratana] he could sign a five-year lease. Tony looked at the building, which was being held together by duct tape and nicotine, and said he couldn’t operate in that space for five years. So, he looked at the build ing next door, which was even older than the soda shop. Moving an iconic restaurant with somuch character and soul was the first big challenge. Figur ing out how to go fromaround 55 seats to 255 seats and all of the challenges that come with it—like needing a big ger kitchen—was another. KEEPING THE CHARM We jackhammered the f loor out to lower the profile. We also kept the

exposed beams. en we took the old wall-mounted jukeboxes, which haven’t worked since the 1970s, and reinstalled those after rechroming them. Unfor tunately, a delivery truck backed into a vintage neon signs that used to hang at the original store, but we got an exact replica of it made. We tried to main tain as much of the charm as possible. GOSPEL MERINGUE One of the best things Tony did was keep Linda Melton around. Linda is a 29-year veteran of the restaurant who held Elliston together through her personality and relationships with customers. She makes the pies every morning, and they’re beautiful. We call the meringue “gospel meringue” because the higher the meringue, the

closer to God you are. ese beautiful meringue pies are showstoppers in the front case right when you walk in. GETTING THE WORD OUT We stil l have people who come by 15 months after our reopening say ing, “Well, I thought y’all closed.” Even thoughwe’ve been around for years, we can’t assume everyone knows about the restoration. WORD TO THE WISE Stay true to who you are, and let that guide your decisions. It’s very easy to chase shiny objects in this industry, so you need to have a set of principles to help you make those decisions. Ask yourself if this makes sense for who you are. And if it doesn’t, don’t do it.

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FSRMAGAZINE .COM

SEPTEMBER 2022