Scotty’s Hamburgers now open in Rocky Top
A customer is handed food from the drive-through window at Scotty’s Hamburgers in Rocky Top on Saturday afternoon (June 21) as others wait behind. The new burger restaurant opened last week and has been busy, despite no signs being put up yet to tell people what the place actually is. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
For now, the hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, but owner Scott Daugherty said he hopes to be able to hire more workers so he can extend the hours through the dinner hours.
The restaurant operates out of a 14-by-24-foot former Burger Boys restaurant building that was moved to Rocky Top from Knoxville on May 9.
There is no inside seating, so service is available for walk-up or drive-through only, but there eventually will be a 10-by-10-foot outdoor patio where people can sit down and eat on the site.
Daughterty said he opened the restaurant on Tuesday, June 17, and almost immediately had drive-through traffic backed up on Norris Freeway almost to the Interstate 75 southbound off-ramp.
“We don’t even have our signs up yet,” he added.
On Saturday afternoon, he had to position his personal vehicle to block the drive-through entrance at 4 p.m. to stop traffic from coming in after closing time.
“We sold 250 hamburgers the first day, and we’ve been selling 200 to 250 a day since then,” he said.
On social media, customers have been raving about the hamburgers and Scotty’s seasoned French fries.
“It’s a Scotty’s, with half-pound hamburgers, along with the original little Scotty burgers, smashburgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, chicken wings, and jumbo chicken tenders,” Daugherty said.
“The fresh-cut fries are cooked in beef tallow, and there are gluten-free options for everything but the chicken,” he said. “It’s all going to be fresh food, just like the old-style hamburger joints.”
Mountain Barn Builders moved the 20,000-pound building up Interstate 75 from Knoxville on a trailer, and used a crane to set it on the lot, which is adjoining the Advance Auto property, just east of the auto parts store.
Owner of the 0.61-acre property is Keenland Heights LLC. of Knoxville, which Daugherty said is a company that builds Advance Auto stores.
“We have a five-year lease on the property,” he said. “But we own the building and paid to have it moved to Rocky Top.”
The building has been repainted and upgraded, and has all-new restaurant equipment.
Daugherty said he’s never owned a restaurant, but he is the owner and operator of TN Gas LLC. at 1015 N Main St., Rocky Top, which sells propane gas and welding supplies.
