There are hard hats at 327 W Summit Hill Dr SW.
Construction is underway on the downtown Knoxville Flying Biscuit Café, the second location for owner Chris Compton and the brand’s first in the heart of the city. The plan is still to open in September 2026.
If you’ve walked past lately, it doesn’t look like much yet. That’s how this always goes. A restaurant spends most of its life as a room full of dust and conduit, and then one week it suddenly looks like a place you’d want to eat breakfast.
What’s going into the space
The downtown café is being built with a patio and a full bar — a combination that should earn its keep on a downtown block, especially once the weather turns.
Inside, it’s the layout Flying Biscuit regulars already know: an open, easy dining room built for a busy morning. The kind of room where a table of four students, a couple of people in from an office nearby and somebody’s grandmother can all be seated at once without anybody feeling out of place.
A look inside
A quick refresher on how we got here
Compton opened Tennessee’s first Flying Biscuit at 11683 Parkside Drive in Turkey Creek in May 2025. Downtown is number two, and he’s already mapped out more — three to five cafés within roughly 50 miles of Knoxville over the next five years.
The site choice was personal. Compton swam at the University of Tennessee, where he was an 11-time All-American and an SEC champion, and the new café sits within reach of campus.
“Downtown has energy to it every day of the week, and there’s still room for a good breakfast in the middle of it,” Compton said when the lease was signed. “Students, families, people who work downtown — we want all of them fed well and looked after.”
What happens next
Hours and hiring details will be announced closer to opening. If you want to work there, keep an eye on this space — a new restaurant needs a lot of good people, and they tend to get hired fast.
Local media and community partnership inquiries can go to marketing@flyingbiscuit.com.
Downtown Knoxville construction: quick facts
- Address: 327 W Summit Hill Dr SW, Knoxville, TN
- Status: Construction underway
- Target opening: September 2026
- Owner/operator: Chris Compton
- Features: Patio and full bar
- Nearby: University of Tennessee campus, downtown Knoxville business district
- Hiring: To be announced closer to opening
About The Flying Biscuit Café
Founded in Atlanta in 1993, The Flying Biscuit Café is known for all-day breakfast, cheerful service and comfort food with a twist — stuffed French toast, the famous shrimp and grits, big omelets, vegan scrambles, burgers and wraps. The brand has 43 locations open and 11 in development across Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida and Texas.
Thinking about building one of your own?
Chris is on his second café with three more in the plan. That’s usually what it looks like when the model works — operators don’t go back for a second build unless the first one earned it.
There’s still open territory across the Southeast and beyond. If you’d like to see what a Flying Biscuit café could look like in your market, fill out the contact form at flyingbiscuitfranchising.com and let’s start the conversation.
