Shoney’s plans to return to Memphis, Tennessee, in early 2027, pairing its all-you-care-to-eat Fresh Food Bar with sister brand 7Pie Pizza in a co-branded restaurant. For anyone whose interest in Shoney’s begins with the food bar, that part of the plan is reassuringly explicit.
Gill Duff, chief marketing officer for Best American Hospitality, disclosed the project in a statement to Nashville television station WKRN. The company says the restaurant will combine 7Pie’s pizza and other family favorites with Shoney’s classic menu items and its unlimited food bar.
The announcement emerged from an unlikely setting: a report about the removal of an old Shoney’s sign near Nissan Stadium in Nashville. The restaurant beneath that sign had already closed. In responding to the idea that the sign marked an ending for the chain, the company pointed instead to its Memphis reopening plans and broader efforts to develop restaurants.
Memphis has an opening window rather than a fixed day. The statement does not identify the street address, and details of the building, dining room and operating schedule have not been announced.
Pizza joins the family
7Pie is a sister business under the same ownership. Shoney’s identifies chairman and CEO David Davoudpour as the owner of 7Pie Pizzeria & Bar, whose current restaurant in Dahlonega, Georgia, gives a sense of the concept joining the Memphis plan.
Its official menu description centers on scratch-made pizzas, with Cajun-spiced buttermilk chicken tenders, baked sandwiches and other family dishes alongside them. There is even hot fudge cake, a particularly recognizable connection to the Shoney’s side of the family.
Those are details of the existing Georgia operation, rather than a confirmed Memphis menu. The company has also not said that 7Pie’s pizza will be unlimited or included on the Fresh Food Bar. An AYCE food bar and a pizza menu under one roof leave several possible ways to order dinner.
The food bar itself remains central to Shoney’s current identity. In an April company announcement, the chain described rotating Theme Meals at participating restaurants, including Backyard BBQ, Seafood Night and Old Fashioned Sunday Dinner. That program dates to 2024; a Memphis theme schedule has not been released.
The return also adds a new format to a long-running name. Shoney’s official history begins with a Charleston, West Virginia, drive-in in 1947. Davoudpour bought the company in 2007 and has pursued restaurant updates and franchise growth.
For Memphis, the next announcement needs to put an address and a date on the plan, followed by the details buffet regulars will study most closely: what reaches the food bar, when it is served and what it costs. The first menu will tell us what to make room for.
