The Flying Biscuit Café opens its downtown café at 327 W Summit Hill Dr SW in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, bringing the Atlanta-born breakfast and brunch brand into the city’s downtown core for the first time.
The café is owned and operated by Chris Compton, who opened the brand’s first Tennessee location at 11683 Parkside Dr in the Turkey Creek area in May of 2025. Downtown is his second Flying Biscuit café. The space includes a patio and a full bar and covers 3,428 square feet with seating for 140. Compton expects to employ around 30 people at the location.
Compton chose the Summit Hill Drive site for its position in the center of the city and its proximity to the University of Tennessee, where he swam as an 11-time All-American and SEC champion and was ranked among the top 10 swimmers in the world in 1992. He said the blocks around the café draw downtown office workers, state and city employees, and UT students through the week, with few sit-down breakfast options among them.
Before moving into hospitality, Compton spent more than 20 years founding and running companies in credit card finance, real estate development and technology consulting.
“Turkey Creek has been good to us, and the question we kept hearing was when we were coming downtown,” said Chris Compton, owner of The Flying Biscuit Café Knoxville. “There are a lot of people on these blocks by 8 a.m. and not many places to sit down and eat. Creamy dreamy grits, freshly baked biscuits, a rich pistachio latte and somebody glad to see you walk in — that’s what opens on Summit Hill on Sept. 12.”
The Flying Biscuit Café Downtown Knoxville is at 327 W Summit Hill Dr SW, Knoxville, TN 37902, and opens to guests Saturday, Sept. 12. Hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday through Sunday, with dinner service from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The café serves breakfast and lunch daily and offers full-service catering.
Guest inquiries can go to [email protected] and catering requests to [email protected]. The location phone is (865) 427-6748. Menus and location details are at flyingbiscuit.com.
Compton’s Turkey Creek café remains open at 11683 Parkside Dr, Knoxville, TN 37934, (865) 288-0513.
Compton plans to keep working with Knoxville-area nonprofits through the downtown café, continuing the partnerships he built around Turkey Creek. He plans to keep developing Flying Biscuit cafés in the greater Knoxville area over the next five years.
Flying Biscuit Franchising is continuing to award territories across the Southeast and Texas including Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Virginia, Arkansas, and Ohio. Prospective operators can review open markets, ownership requirements and how to start a conversation with the development team at flyingbiscuitfranchising.com.
