Kern's Food Hall is ready to spill some secrets - restaurants, rooftops, brewery and all

This is not a drill: The former Kern's Bakery in South Knoxville is preparing to open its doors with a new food hall experience that includes multiple culinary concepts, an eccentric brewery taproom, two rooftop lounges and an outdoor event lawn complete with a stage and big-screen TV.

Developers could have delayed the opening again, as not all vendors are ready to launch their concepts in the stalls they're designing. But lead developer Alex Dominguez believes the under-construction experience will build excitement when Kern's Food Hall opens April 13.

Completed or not, the property just across the Henley Street bridge from downtown is a sight to behold.

The former bakery, which multiple groups attempted to redevelop before current owners took over in 2019, has been gutted and reimagined − and not like the type of food hall Knoxville is used to.

Marble City Market became Knoxville's first food hall when it opened downtown in November 2021, but the experience primarily revolved around grabbing a quick bite from vendors.

When it comes to usable space, Kern's Food Hall has plenty: roughly 70,000 square feet. That's in addition to the Flagship Kern's apartments next door, which the developers opened in March 2021.

"It's like the size of an old Kmart. It's massive," Dominguez, whose company Tierra Firme is working in partnership with Four Stones Real Estate, said about the food hall's square footage. "And that's without the outside lawn. It's not a little shopping center. It's got so much."

And most of what Kern's has to offer comes in the form of local or regional vendors − no national corporate chains. Get the image of a mall food court out of your head.

Opening day restaurants, stores and brewery at Kern's Food Hall

Opening-day guests will be welcomed by the following vendors which, unlike Marble City Market, includes some non-food businesses:

• Archer Paper Goods

• AVA Italian

• Awaken Coffee

• Flourish Flowers

• Hey Bear Café

• Irvey's Ice Cream

• Mae Lee's Boutique

• Monday Night Brewing

• Vol Nail Spa

• Zukku Sushi

• Vella Crew Studios

Vella Crew Owner Suzanne Young, a spokesperson for Kern's, told Knox News the food hall will have a food truck schedule for the first month until more businesses open inside. Those food trucks include: Clean Smoke BBQ, The Donut Theory, Irvey's Ice Cream and Mucho Gusto.

Flourish Flowers also will have its flower truck on site.

Clean Smoke BBQ will eventually have one of the largest spaces and direct access outside, just like Vella Crew, international brunch concept Eggspectation and Monday Night Brewing.

Though Monday Night Brewing is based in Atlanta, Knoxville residents have probably seen its beer around. The brewery's tart, fruity sour known as Dr. Robot seems to be a favorite all over town.

The Monday Night Brewing taproom seemed like the most completed space during Knox News' exclusive tour March 27. Floral patterns decorate the walls, along with reclaimed wood from the original bakery and shelves displaying obscure knick knacks that include a hanging bat − like, the flying mammal − inside a glass dome.

The taproom has a walk-up bar accessible from the event lawn on the back side of the property, which includes a variety of seating and a turfed area where a stage is set up for entertainment and for showing games on TV.

Up above, two rooftop lounges with a shared bar overlook the outdoor space.

Parking, seating and a speakeasy surprise for hundreds of guests

The food hall's main ground-level bar also leads outside, though it's more like four bars, each with a mixing station and dedicated bartender to handle any capacity. That's promising, as Kern's expects a lot of customers − so much so that developers are worried 250 on-site parking spots won't be enough.

Dominguez said the food hall plans to charge for parking after 90 minutes.

If the parking lot does become full, the Riverwalk Garage just around the corner at 2011 Kay St. has 720 parking spaces, according to the Public Building Authority.

The curation of the food hall should help alleviate crowds, with a variety of vendors expected to be busy at different times. Coffee and breakfast food should draw crowds in the morning, for example, while the bars should pick up at night.

In addition to the bars already mentioned, a smaller bar is located in the front half of the building near the main dining area so people don't have to walk all the way to the back − the property is that big. Throughout the property, Dominguez said, there's more than 600 seats.

The layout encourages people to explore many nooks and crannies.

A downstairs cocktail bar is in the plans, but that will eventually require cutting a hole in the floor to build a staircase. A speakeasy is also coming, but that's hush-hush for now. Once ready, it will be up to customers to discover it, partially by participating in an immersive story.

So, keep your eyes and ears open.

How Kern's Food Hall repurposed Kern's Bakery building

Almost every indoor area within the food hall is part of the original building, minus a 3,000-square-foot addition and the rooftop areas.

Other highlights will include a market near the front with a handful of vendor spaces Dominguez hopes will serve as incubators for businesses not ready to commit to a full-sized stall.

These will be occupied through licensing, rather than a food hall contract, but the businesses will be marketed as part of Kern's. It's one of the many ways the food hall is trying to accommodate vendors who might not have the resources to go the brick-and-mortar route.

Those who do have stalls are spoiled by the standards of most available restaurant spaces. Some stalls include walk-in coolers vendors can rent. The vendors also have private storage areas in the back-of-house to keep their stations organized.

Ice, trash service, tray pickup and the cleaning of bathrooms and common areas − all that is handled by the food hall, along with providing most of the seating. Customers can sit anywhere in the common areas, regardless of where they order from, though some vendors are choosing to add barstools at their stalls for counter seating.

Near the main dining area, just next to the smaller bar, is a stage area that vendors could use to book sponsored events. A vendor might want to host a concert using their business's name as promotion, and Kern's encourages it.

Kern's Food Hall part of South Knoxville growth encouraged by bridge

Dominguez said he sees the indoor stage area also being used by the community for things like South Waterfront neighborhood meetings. South Knoxville, especially the riverfront, has been the subject of many big conversations about Knoxville's future.

The food hall is just a short walk away from where a proposed pedestrian bridge would land opposite of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville campus. The potential for a bridge and the untapped potential of the waterfront have encouraged multiple apartment developments nearby, including The Davy student apartments being built near the food hall at the former Baptist Hospital site.

This apartment building will have a restaurant and bar on the ground floor, making the corner of Chapman Highway and Blount Avenue − and the developments immediately surrounding these streets − among the hottest up-and-coming places in town.

Dominguez is looking forward to being a vital part of the area's growth.

"When you bring dollars and drop them here, the dollars are going to stay right in this community," he said. "And that's a big part of what this engine will do to the surrounding area. People want to live close to here. We've got real estate people that are literally stating, 'I'm so-many-point-whatever-miles from Kern's Bakery.' And we're not even open."

Between its history and new vision, plan to be 'blown away' at Kern's

The headquarters for the original Kern's Bakery, located where The Oliver Hotel is now on Market Square, transitioned to the South Knoxville building in 1931.

Following multiple lawsuits, the Brown family ended up taking sole ownership of the business in 1978 until the bread brand was purchased by Sara Lee in 1989. Sara Lee used the facility for production "into the 2000s," according to the food hall.

Memorabilia related to this history will be on display in "a historic vestibule" near the front door of the building, Dominguez said, though most people will access the building from another entry point.

Because the building is so historic, it has posed some unexpected challenges that have led to the opening being delayed multiple times. Dominguez said he can't point his finger at any single thing that has caused setbacks.

"It's not weather, although weather plays into it. It's not supply chain, although that played into it," he said. "It's everything we didn't know about this place. It's the soils. ... I can show you an opening that we didn't know existed that could have collapsed that we had to shore up."

A new access road to the property has also been delayed, though it won't keep the food hall from opening. Developers plan build the road soon at the stoplight for Burger Boys, which will close, to make entering and exiting the property easier and to help alleviate some Chapman Highway traffic.

"I never, from day one, wanted to set expectations that we couldn't deliver," Dominguez said. "Transparently, I wish that we had more spaces open. But I think we will overdeliver when they all come together ... I think when they see how big this is, I think they will kind of be blown away."

Here is the full list of the vendors and businesses planning to open eventually at the venue, according to kernsfoodhall.com:

• Archer Paper Goods

• AVA Italian

• Awaken Coffee

• Amaryllis Taqueria

• Clean Smoke BBQ

• Eggspectation

• F45 Training

• Flourish Flowers

• Hemmingway's Cuban Kitchen

• Hey Bear Café

• Irvey's Ice Cream

• Jessica Wang (jewelry)

• Kandilige Spicy Food

• Mae Lee's Boutique

• Mellow Knox

• Monday Night Brewing

• Myrtle's Bakehouse

• Ooh LALA Indian Kitchen

• T. Ralph's Burgers

• Vols Nail Spa

• Won Kitchen

• Zukku Sushi

Kern's Food Hall is located at 2201 Kerns Rising Way, just across the Henley Street bridge from downtown along Chapman Highway.

All vendors should be open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. most days, though some may open earlier or stay open later depending on their business model.

Ryan Wilusz is a downtown growth and development reporter. Phone 865-317-5138. Email ryan.wilusz@knoxnews.com. Instagram @knoxscruff.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Kerns Food Hall opening with South Knoxville food, drinks, stores