March 10, 2017

Popular East Memphis Restaurant Heads East

Memphis Business Journal

A new retail center in Boyle Investment Company’s 443-acre Schilling Farms community development has landed its first restaurant:  Cheffie’s Cafe.

The popular East Memphis restaurant will occupy 3,100 square feet of the 9,000-square-foot Boyle Investment Company-owned retail center at 956 Winchester Blvd. Cheffie’s will also have a 600-square-foot patio.

“I don’t think there’s any lack of guests … who love the concept of custom crafting their own salads,” Wilson said.
The Schilling Farms location will be the new prototype for the company, according to MEM Hospitality vice president of design and development, Tate Conrad.
Boyle’s Jonathan Aur said Cheffie’s is the perfect concept for Schilling Farms.

Matt Wilson, managing partner of Cheffie’s parent company MEM Hospitality, said his current customers drew him to Collierville, as many of the suburban residents frequent his High Point Terrace establishment.  Another appeal to Collierville, he said, is the proximity to large offices such as FedEx’s Collierville campus, which Wilson said will offer an opportunity to quickly grow the restaurant’s catering component.

Once he began looking at Collierville, Wilson said he was led to Schilling Farms because of its neighborhood feel.

“Cheffie’s had really become a neighborhood spot. … We feel Schilling Farms is a similar opportunity to create that neighborhood destination,” Wilson said. “It’s not a big-box area.”

Aur said he is currently in discussions with seven potential tenants for the remaining space in the retail center, which is around the corner from the 50,000-square-foot Helena Chemical Company’s 104,000-square-foot headquarters and next door to Boyle’s 50,000-square-foot mixed-use building unveiled in July 2016 — half of which is also occupied by Helena Chemical Company’s Southern Business Unit.

Schilling Farms brings together office, retail, residential, restaurants and health care amenities in a walkable community.

Cheffie’s was represented by Loeb Realty Group’s Frank Dyer on the lease.

In addition to Cheffie’s, MEM Hospitality owns Swanky’s Taco Shop.

Jacob Steimer covers CRE, manufacturing, finance and nonprofits for MBJ.