Coal Creek Smokehouse is staying put
Coal Creek Smokehouse workers Kara Elliott, left, and Jeff Livingstone feed wood into the meat smoker outside the rear of the popular Rocky Top barbecue restaurant on Mon- day, Feb. 7. Livingstone is in charge of smoking the various meats for the menu. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
But there was a scare last week as former Rocky Top resident Juden Poore posted on Facebook that he was going to rent the restaurant building, near the Coal Creek Miners Museum in downtown Rocky Top, and reopen it as his own restaurant called either “The Honkie Bucket” or “The Honkey Bucket” (Poore spelled it both ways in his own post).
He said he was going to duplicate the menu of his “original” Honkie/Honkey Bucket restaurant near Decatur, where he lives. That restaurant is mostly a take-out counter in Poore’s poolroom and bait shop along Tennessee Route 68 about 10 miles from Decatur, near Watts Bar Dam.
The Coal Creek Smokehouse owners posted their own notice on their restaurant’s Facebook page after Poore’s announcement, acknowledging that they were shutting down the Coal Creek Smokehouse and leasing the building to Poore as of March 1.
But the owners, Luci and David Bates, changed their minds on Sunday (Feb. 6), and posted on Facebook that they had decided to keep the Coal Creek Smokehouse open, and would not be leasing the building to anyone.
In the post, the owners wrote:
“We are not leaving. We have a brand-new staff. They are fabulous, excited and capable. Can’t ask for better. Actually, they have worked here before, and had to leave for various reasons. They are so happy to be back, and we are so happy to have them.
“We will not be leasing out to another. So, you will still get the menu from the Smokehouse, only better! Plus, we are going to try to be open more days. Please come support us and help us keep this going.”
A post on Monday said the restaurant will now be open seven days a week, where in the past it was closed on Sundays and Mondays. Operating hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The Bates couple opened the Coal Creek Smokehouse BBQ on Oct. 22, 2014, and since then the restaurant has become a Tennessee legend and one of Rocky Top’s greatest assets.
It has earned accolades in national, state and regional culinary publications, and is currently ranked among the Top 10 best barbecue restaurants in Tennessee.
Luci Bates said Saturday that the pandemic and some staffing problems had taken a toll on the restaurant, and had been making it hard to break even, let alone make a profit.
But she said that after a huge outpouring of support after they initially posted that they would be closing, she and her husband have now re-committed to the business and will do everything they can to see that it can continue and prosper.
“We do have a lot of people who seem to love our food,” she said. “We just need them to start coming back.”
The Coal Creek Smokehouse is not alone among restaurants finding it hard to rebound from the lockdowns and other problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but many of them are coming back strong now.