At Brentwood Place, Breakfast Has the Sign and Barbecue Has the Permit

Two empty restaurant spaces at Brentwood Place, the Regency Centers property at 330 Franklin Road, are getting Southern comfort food. Big Bad Breakfast is moving into the former Ludlow & Prime space. Edley's Bar-B-Que is taking over the old McAlister's Deli. Breakfast looks closer from the parking lot, with a sign on the building and an opening target that has already passed. The city's paperwork tells a different story. Edley's cleared its site-plan review and its beer permit over the summer. Big Bad Breakfast's beer permit has been on Brentwood's Beer Board agenda this month.

Two Spaces, Two Menus, One Shopping Center

Regency's leasing plan for the center gives each restaurant a specific suite. The two are a short walk apart in a shopping center Regency lists at 318,971 square feet.

Both brands already operate in Middle Tennessee, so neither is new to the area. Brentwood gives Big Bad Breakfast its fifth Middle Tennessee restaurant, after Franklin, Spring Hill, Nashville and Murfreesboro. Edley's already has locations in 12South, East Nashville, Sylvan Park, Donelson, Franklin and Berry Farms, and Brentwood will be its 12th restaurant overall.

Breakfast Was Supposed to Arrive First

In August, Big Bad Breakfast founder and CEO John Currence told WhatNow Nashville that permitting delays had slowed the project and that the restaurant was aiming for a mid-October opening. In that interview, he described why he chose this particular center:

"It's situated in a center that's full of activity. The parking lot stays full all the time, and I can't think of another neighborhood in town that would be more perfect for us."

He told the same outlet the company had "had our eye on Brentwood for years" and called the site "an absolute diamond for us." He also said Brentwood will be the chain's 32nd store.

The building looks nearly ready. On Oct. 13, Williamson Source reported that the signage was up, and noted it had asked about an exact opening date without hearing back. The Brentwood page on the restaurant's website still says "Coming Soon!"

The menu follows what Currence has built since 2008, when, as he told WhatNow, "it just dawned on me that nobody was giving the same attention to breakfast as everybody was giving to lunch and dinner." Williamson Source lists in-house cured bacon, skillet meals and biscuits made fresh daily, along with brunch cocktails like a Bloody Mary, a mimosa and the Breakfast Dude, which is made with cold brew, cream, vodka, Kahlua and vanilla. Currence told WhatNow that the jellies and jams are made in each store, and that the bacon, sausage, ham and turkey come from a company-owned facility in North Alabama.

Those cocktails explain why the breakfast spot's name keeps appearing on city beer permit agendas.

The Barbecue Paperwork Is Already Done

Edley's started later and has moved through the city's process steadily. Here is the sequence in public records and local reporting:

1. May 2026. The Nashville Business Journal reported plans for a roughly 3,800-square-foot Edley's in the former McAlister's Deli space, with about 50 jobs and an end-of-year target, as summarized by WhatNow.
2. July 6. The Brentwood Planning Commission agenda treated the exterior work as a minor site-plan alteration. Williamson Source reported that the plans included new paint and cladding, awnings, black accents, gray-painted brick, and a covered rear porch for the smoker. Signage goes through a separate city review.
3. Aug. 10. The Brentwood Beer Board voted 7–0 to approve a beer permit for Edley's. According to a meeting summary from OpenTennessee, the board clarified that the permit covers on-premises service only, with no off-site sales, and the restaurant's general manager said Edley's would serve beer and wine for on-site consumption when it opened "in December."

The smoker porch is the detail to watch for from Franklin Road. Gray paint and black awnings on the old McAlister's exterior at the 400E end of the center will mean the approved plans are being built.

Expect the menu Edley's serves at its other locations. WhatNow lists brisket platters, pulled pork sandwiches, smoked wings, catfish, mac and cheese, cornbread and banana pudding, with counter service and a full bar. The company was founded in Nashville in 2011 by Will Newman.

Reading the Beer Board Like a Calendar

Brentwood's Beer Board meets on Monday evenings at City Hall, and its agendas are posted publicly ahead of time. Big Bad Breakfast and Edley's both plan to serve alcohol, so their permit requests show up on the board's agenda, and those votes are dated, public milestones on the way to opening.

Big Bad Breakfast's application, filed by BBB Brentwood, LLC, first appeared on the Oct. 12 agenda as an on-premises beer permit for 330 Franklin Road, Suite 226B. A summary published Oct. 20 by Tennessee Record lists the request again as old business for the board's Monday, Oct. 26 meeting. That meeting was this past Monday. Its outcome is the best clue to when the biscuits start coming out, and the city's agenda portal is the place to check it.

Edley's cleared its beer permit vote in August, months ahead of the December opening its general manager described.

The online center directory can mislead. It still lists McAlister's Deli in Suite 400E alongside both new restaurants, while Regency's leasing plan already shows Edley's in that suite. Regency's plan reflects the current lease.

The Busy Lot Currence Was Talking About

The "parking lot stays full" comment makes sense once you see who else is here. Regency lists TJ Maxx, Nordstrom Rack, Total Wine & More, Golf Galaxy, CVS and Stock & Trade as key retailers. The tenant plan also includes Chick-fil-A, Five Guys, Peter's Sushi & Thai, The Chile Burrito, Subway and CREMA Coffee Roasters.

Big Bad Breakfast will add brunch cocktails to that mix, and Edley's will add smoked barbecue, with beer and wine, from a smoker on a covered back porch.

The Edley's porch is going up behind the old McAlister's, and the Big Bad Breakfast sign is up over the former Ludlow & Prime. The board's Oct. 26 decision on the breakfast permit and the December date the Edley's team gave in August are the two dates to watch.

If you follow Brentwood openings the way some people follow the weather, I'd love to compare notes. I'm Brock Daniel, and I keep up with what's changing along Franklin Road because it helps me give clients a real picture of daily life here, whether they're happily settled or thinking about a next chapter. If a new spot at Brentwood Place has you curious about the neighborhood around it, Brock Daniel Mixon is glad to talk it through over breakfast or barbecue, whichever opens first. Let's Connect.