Open Carry

Tennessee Steakhouse Joins the Hot New ‘Guns Welcome’ Trend

No shoes, no gun, no service?
No shoes, no gun, no service? Photo: Shutterstock

Those Elvis theme nights probably do all right, but Shiloh Brew & Chew, a “family-style” steakhouse in Tennessee, really scored with locals when it prominently put a “Guns Are Welcome” sign in the window. It’s a big boon for business so far, says owner Sharma Floyd, with lots of fringe benefits: “I lost a whole group of motorcyclists because they thought I didn’t allow weapons,” Floyd says. Those bikers are presumably back, as well as the Guns & Ammo contingent.

Regulars over at Colorado’s gun-friendly Shooters Grill may find the sign strangely familiar looking, probably because Floyd says hearing about open-carry policies at other restaurants “got her thinking.” The craze is a backlash against bans elsewhere, and people not yet sold on the idea often worry about alcohol in close proximity to gun-friendly clientele. Shiloh Brew & Chew would seem less than reassuring in this regard, but Floyd says in the absence of a full liquor license, servers simply refuse beer to anyone carrying a weapon. The name, she adds, was just really bad planning: “’Brew’ is for coffee, ‘chew’ is for food. … [A]fter I made a $3,000 sign and paid for it, I realized that was not a good marketing idea.”

“Guns Are Welcome” Signs Posted at Maryville Family Restaurant [WBIR]
Related: Introducing Shooters Grill, the Restaurant Where Waitresses Carry Guns

Tennessee Steakhouse Joins the Hot New ‘Guns Welcome’ Trend