Char Steakhouse is gearing up to swing open its doors in Franklin's Cool Springs area next Tuesday, November 17, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled for 10 a.m. at Canteen on Carothers. The roughly 6,500-square-foot restaurant is expected to seat more than 200 guests, giving the fast-growing steakhouse brand its latest foothold in Middle Tennessee.
According to williamsonsource.com, the new restaurant marks the brand's expansion into the Cool Springs community, with one report estimating the dining room could seat around 215 people. Doug Hogrefe, a partner at 4Top Hospitality, the Nashville-based company behind Char, said the goal was to make the new spot feel like a true neighborhood hub. “We wanted Char to feel like a natural gathering place for the Cool Springs community,” Hogrefe said, per the same outlet.
There's a bit of a numbers mystery surrounding the new opening. The Business Journals reports on the Franklin restaurant, while williamsonsource.com describes it as Char's fifth location and second in the Nashville area. The Franklin restaurant is Char's fifth location, and the planned Murfreesboro restaurant is the sixth. Char is multiplying fast across the region.
A Brand Built in Mississippi, Now Spreading South
Char's roots go back to 2001, when the steakhouse concept launched in Jackson, Mississippi, according to whatnow.com. Since then, the brand has expanded into Huntsville, Alabama, Memphis and Nashville, building a footprint across the South one city at a time. 4Top Hospitality, the company steering that growth, also operates Etch at The Factory at Franklin, per the same williamsonsource.com report.
The Franklin location isn't the end of the expansion push. Foundry Commercial, which handles leasing for Canteen on Carothers, has said the restaurant was expected to create approximately 50 new jobs in the area, according to foundrycommercial.com. That figure is a projection rather than a confirmed hiring total, but it underscores how much weight local developers are putting on the steakhouse as an economic draw.
Murfreesboro Is Next on the List
4Top Hospitality isn't stopping in Franklin. The company plans to bring Char to Murfreesboro for the first time, marking its debut concept in Rutherford County, according to wgnsradio.com. That restaurant is planned for 2305 Exchange Drive in The Exchange development, near Medical Center Parkway and Robert Rose Drive, with a projected opening in 2027.
The Murfreesboro project is slightly larger on paper, at 6,600 square feet, and wgnsradio.com describes it as part of Char's broader expansion across the South. That location is also estimated to bring 50 jobs to the area, mirroring the projected hiring numbers tied to the Franklin opening. Groundbreaking was slated for later in 2025, with the restaurant expected to open its doors sometime in 2027.
For now, all eyes are on Cool Springs, where diners will get their first taste of Char's steaks, piano-bar ambiance and gathering-place vibe when the ribbon is cut next Tuesday morning.
