Southern restaurant chain opening in downtown Grand Rapids

Tupelo Honey Café, a Southern restaurant and bar chain, is opening its first Great Lakes region location in downtown Grand Rapids and looking to fill 80 jobs.

Asheville, North Carolina-based Tupelo Honey Café will open at 140 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, in a 5,050-square-foot space on the first floor of Hyatt Place hotel in downtown Grand Rapids, in late September.

The restaurant will serve responsibly sourced, scratch-made Southern fare using seasonal ingredients, including its best-sellers honey-dusted fried chicken, Tupelo shrimp and grits, and the sweet and spicy chicken sandwich.

“We chose Grand Rapids as the home of our 18th location because of its culture,” said Christin Prince, senior vice president of marketing at Tupelo Honey. “The art and craft beer focus here reminds us of our roots in Asheville, North Carolina. We’re excited to be a part of Grand Rapids’ vibrant culinary community and to bring our unique Tupelo Honey experience to West Michigan.”

Tupelo Honey is now hiring for 80 positions, including servers, bartenders, hosts, line and prep cooks, and other front and back-of-house positions.

The restaurant will host an open-to-the-public hiring event 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily from Aug. 24-28. Candidates are asked to apply online in advance at tupelohoneycafe.com/gr-hiring if they can, but there will be computer access available to apply on-site if people can’t register in advance. Tupelo Honey will follow safety guidelines in accordance with CDC recommendations at the hiring event.

Tupelo Honey will open next month with a series of public grand opening events, contests and fundraisers.

The first Tupelo Honey restaurant was founded in 2000 by Sharon Schott, and the chain has locations in Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.