NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) -- Twenty-two Nashville restaurants closed in 2024, including many that had been here for years, but some big-name hospitality groups are also moving in. News 2 looked at the challenges as Music City's food scene evolves.
The bar at Hathorne is much quieter these days. John Stephenson closed his beloved West Nashville restaurant in September after nearly six years in business.
"It's been bittersweet. We just felt like we were still almost right to the point where we were going to be okay, and it just didn't happen," Stephenson said. "I put my heart and soul into this, and we did have some success, but, unfortunately, couldn't continue."
There was the setback of the pandemic, then inflation and increased costs of food and supplies. However, the real tipping point for Stephenson was the rising cost of labor and a shortage of workers with 67 new restaurants opening in the city in 2024, according to the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp.
"There are a lot of quality of quality groups that are opening restaurants, and hotels or bigger groups that come in and are doing a great job, but they do have deeper pockets," Stephenson said. "They have the ability to offer pretty decent health insurance and paid time off, lots of things that [for] smaller operators, it's more difficult for them to do."
Many of those smaller operators have also closed their doors this year like Sinema, Lou in East Nashville, PDK Southern Kitchen and Pantry, and multiple Party Fowl locations. Even McCabe Pub said goodbye after 41 years in Sylvan Park.
Meanwhile, out-of-town restauranteurs continue to eye the Nashville market for expansion, including Ohio-based Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, which is opening its high-end seafood and steak spot, Ocean Prime, in Nashville Yards next year.
"Nashville is just a great market. It's a growing market, it's a booming market, it's a young market. You have tourism, you have professional sports, you got a great office market. Amazon being part of our project was certainly enticing," said David Miller, president and chief operating officer of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants.
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The group has 50 locations across the country, but Miller said they haven't lost sight of their humble beginnings.
"We started with one restaurant and slowly built our company over the past 32 years," Miller said. "One of the most important things for us is that as we go into a market is that we become part of that community, we give back to that community. We employ 100, 150 new, we call our employees 'associates.' It's very important for us to get engaged and connected to our community that we do business in."
Stephenson embraces Nashville's rising star as a food city, but he urges people to remember their neighborhood joints.
"People just forget. I was like, 'Oh remember that little restaurant that we love?' It's like it's still there, and they still need you, and they would love to see you. You can come back and patronize them and help them stay in business," he said.
