Bryant’s Breakfast, the Southern-inspired eatery at 3965 Summer Avenue, is ready to expand to the adjacent space at 3963 Summer Ave.
Tashie Restaurant Group, led by cousins Judd and David Tashie, recently purchased the former home of La Esperanza Tienda Mexicana next door to double the size of the restaurant, according to Memphis Business Journal. The expansion will allow the group to add more space for dining, a kitchen, and more bathrooms. Renovations are underway, and the owners expect to open the extended space in September 2023. The restaurant will continue to serve its famous biscuits and white gravy, country ham, pork sausage, and other favorite Southern culinary delights.
For those who don’t know of Bryant’s Breakfast’s rich history, it began in 1968, when Jimmy and Jane Bryant opened a Loeb’s Bar-B-Q franchise in the Parkway Village, focusing on BBQ until Jimmy launched a breakfast menu. The restaurant quickly became a hit in the neighborhood, occasionally creating lines around the corner of the building. Phil Bryant, the prior owner and son of founder Jimmy Bryant, sold the restaurant to the Tashie Restaurant Group group on March 1, 2021, reopening the next month as Bryant’s Breakfast. This is the first time the restaurant has expanded since landing in the space in 1977. Now more customers will be able to enjoy Bryant’s Breakfast while honoring its former owner, Phil, who passed away in May 2021 after being diagnosed with a brain tumor.
“We didn’t do anything except to optimize all the equipment, get all the former staff back, and reprint the menus,” Judd Tashie says on the restaurant’s website. “And that’s about it. To be honest with you, we didn’t have to do much except get all the right people back. That was the key. Same people that were making the food before are doing it again. And the same wait staff, the same people taking care of customers, are back. That was the most important thing. We didn’t change the menu, add anything, or drop anything. Most of our employees have been with Bryant’s for over ten years, with some over twenty years. We intend to keep it just as it was.”
