A popular Knoxville restaurant reopens 14 months after kitchen fire became an 'inferno'
The 3700 Magnolia Ave. restaurant first opened in 1983 as just the third Buddy's Bar-B-Q, a third-generation restaurant brand with 19 locations across East Tennessee. Buddy's CEO Mark Lemoncelli said the community response to the returning restaurant has been as if a brand-new location were opening.
In February 2024, the Buddy's in Burlington suffered a kitchen fire that engulfed the building in flames.
"The manager had just left the building, and it basically turned into a giant inferno," Lemoncelli said. "It just took on a life of its own."
This location didn't look like the other Buddy's. It had a flatter, square-like roof and was missing the recognizable red top. The building was minutes away from completely collapsing during the fire, Lemoncelli said.
Buddy's Bar-B-Q rebuilt its Magnolia Avenue restaurant in the Burlington neighborhood after a 2024 fire.
Once the fire was put out, he knew the restaurant would need to be mostly redone. The location was closed for 14 months, Lemoncelli said, since "they had to go down to four walls and rebuild."
This Buddy's now has the iconic red roof, along with interior renovations and kitchen upgrades. More than 60% of the staff that worked at Buddy's before the fire returned after the restaurant reopened April 28, Lemoncelli said.
"They know a lot of the community that comes in," he said. "It's been good to see. It's been encouraging."
Buddy's CEO also reopens Jason's Deli on the Strip
Lemoncelli also is the franchise owner of Jason's Deli at 2106 Cumberland Ave., which returned to the Strip in April after being closed more than four years.
The nationwide sandwich chain had to close its campus-area restaurant in December 2020 after developers began buying up real estate on Cumberland Avenue to make way for more private housing for University of Tennessee at Knoxville students.
Jason's Deli has reopened on the same block but is now inside the new Union Knoxville building, a student housing project backed by global real estate firm Greystar. In 2021, the strip mall that housed Jason's Deli, Subway and Domino's in the 2100 block of Cumberland Avenue was demolished to make way for the apartments.
Joanna Hayes is the restaurant and retail reporter. Email: joanna.hayes@knoxnews.com. | Sign up for the free Eat65 newsletter
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville restaurant Buddy's Bar-B-Q reopens after Magnolia Avenue fire
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