By Michelle Price
Special to the UCBJ
COOKEVILLE – Fans of the Shoney’s “World Famous Hot Fudge Cake” may be in for a long wait to get their chocolate fix in Cookeville.
The iconic food chain, which has been located in Cookeville for more than 40 years, closed in January 2019 for “renovations.” Since then, however, calls to the corporate office to find out about the duration of the renovation have gone unanswered or provided little insight.
In fact, Cookeville’s Interim Planning Director, John Ward, confirmed Monday that no renovation plans have been submitted to the city for consideration.
The UCBJ recently spoke with Lori Gillotte with Shoney’s Corporate office. She would only say that they are currently “remodeling other restaurants out of state” and the restaurant will reopen “at some point in the future.”
A potential glimpse at what that might look like is down the road in Nashville, where the Donelson Pike Shoney’s was renovated in 2017 and now includes a bar. According to an article in FSR Magazine this new design will serve as the prototype for all newly constructed and remodeled Shoney’s locations nationwide. The UCBJ could not confirm if the Cookeville location will indeed feature a bar – or if the hot fudge cake would still be on the menu.
