MADISON — Jonathan’s Grille will be opening its first two locations outside of Tennessee with two restaurants in Madison.

The popular Nashville-area business is scheduled to open at Clift Farm on U.S. 72 late this summer and at booming Town Madison in December. They will create 100 jobs for the area.

Construction is underway at the Clift Farm site and the Town Madison location will be going vertical off the I-565/Wall Triana exit in May. The first restaurant to open on the west end of Town Madison, Jonathan’s will be next to the new Hilton Garden Inn.

Known for their diverse menu of pizzas made from fresh inhouse dough, fresh salads, tacos, sandwiches and mouth-watering prime rib, owners Curt and Mason Revelette believe the two sites are home run developments and excellent locations for their growing restaurant brand.

“We are thrilled to be joining the Madison community,” said Curt Revelette. “My brother and I started Jonathan’s in Franklin (Tenn.) and at the time, we were only the third restaurant in the Cool Springs community.

“We have been blessed that Nashville’s growth exploded in the manner it has, providing us with the opportunity to open restaurants in what used to be bedroom communities to Nashville. Growing up there, we have known Huntsville for years because it was where we came to visit the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.”

He said customers have been driving the 45 minutes to an hour from Madison to Franklin, so the move into Madison is a natural progression of their company growth.

“Now as we look at the big picture and see the growth of the greater Huntsville area and our proximity to Madison, and as we grow our own opportunities, we think focusing on Madison just makes a lot of sense, and we hope the entire community loves what we are bringing,” he said.

Jonathan’s Grille opened last year in the midst of the pandemic. (Photo/Kathryn Byrd for Jonathan’s Grille)

While COVID-19 has negatively impacted some restaurants, it has not slowed down Jonathan’s. They opened a location in Chattanooga right in the middle of the pandemic and Revelette said it is doing extremely well.

“We have 500 employees, and we promote from within, so many of our employees have been with us since they were 16 years old and have worked their way up to managers from servers and hostesses,” Revelette said. “As a family-owned business, we never laid off a single staff member. We brought them in during the shutdowns to clean the store and we were able to get a lot of projects done that had been needing to get done forever, so our staff is loyal.

“We knew we were going to get through it. Small businesses face bumps in the road all the time. We are just that type of company.”

In terms of making any changes in their restaurant design and operations, he said restaurants are cleaner now than they have ever been, and though they do not follow “trends,” one of the things that has come out of COVID-19 is the popularity of more outdoor patio space.

And, they are happy to oblige.

“We will be incorporating more front patio space at both new locations, but we are also going to have a back patio off the bar side that will be for ages 21 and over,” said Revelette. “That will allow people to spread out more.

“We have also seen our to-go business explode highlighted by people being at home, so they are using mobile apps more than they ever did before and they are great. We will continue to partner with (delivery) services to provide that. But overall, we will continue to stick with the basics that has helped us get to where we are now – provide great service and fresh, high quality food at a reasonable price.”