Halls Chophouse Names Nashville Restaurant Leadership

Press Release

Halls Chophouse, one of the nation’s top-rated fine dining restaurants, will open in Nashville in 2022 with an experienced leadership team at the helm to manage its first expansion outside of South Carolina.

After a robust search locally and nationally, Chad Ellis has been named General Manager and Lee Spencer has been named Executive Chef of the highly anticipated Nashville restaurant, which is coming to the ground floor of the Broadwest development on West End in 2022.

“To be the best fine dining experience, we have to also attract the best people, and we believe we’ve succeeded in that by finding Chad and Chef Lee,” said Tommy Hall, President and CEO of Hall Management Group. “Both have tremendous pedigrees and deep experience working in and leading incredible establishments, but most importantly they are the right people to help us launch Halls Chophouse Nashville.”

Added Hall, “Our restaurant is about authentic connections with guests and fully immersing Halls within the community, Chad and Chef Lee are the perfect ambassadors to do just that and to build a staff that will be welcoming, warm, and unmatched in their level of personal attention to guests.”

At Halls Chophouse Nashville, the duo will be overseeing 2,500 sf of patio dining and 10,000 sf of interior dining including a multitude of private dining rooms, and classic and comfortable bars. A taste of what is to come in Nashville can be found on its current dinner and brunch menus.

The new Nashville restaurant will add to the four existing Halls Chophouse locations in South Carolina: Charleston, Columbia, Greenville and Summerville.

About the leadership:

 Lee Spencer, Executive Chef of Halls Chophouse Nashville

With more than 20 years of experience in the culinary industry, Chef Lee Spencer returns to Nashville as executive chef to open the at the highly anticipated Halls Chophouse Nashville. Originally from Music City, Chef Spencer went on to attend culinary school at The Art Institute of Atlanta, which positioned him to move on and work at some of the best steakhouses up and down the east coast and across the southwest.

Throughout his career, Chef Spencer has been bestowed the great honor of aiding in multiple restaurant openings – experience that now makes him well-positioned and uniquely prepared to lead a talented team in the successful opening of Halls Chophouse Nashville.

Outside the kitchen, he loves discovering hidden-gem restaurants, playing golf and relaxing at home with his fiancé and two dogs, Joetorre & Ellie Mae.

Chad Ellis, General Manager of Halls Chophouse Nashville

Chad Ellis has been a leader in the restaurant industry for nearly three decades. Prior to joining Halls Chophouse, Chad has served as general manager, corporate executive chef, and food and beverage director for several prestigious nationwide operations. His passion for excellence and food service as well as developing top-notch teams has been on display within leading companies such as The Capital Grille, New York City’s Serendipity 3, Roy’s in Dallas and Lyons Group Entertainment.

Ellis specializes in identifying industry talent and positioning them to advance their careers by instilling the preeminent importance of guest service and human connections. Over his career, he has mentored many professionals having personally taken part in over 150-unit openings from Las Vegas to Miami.

Operating some of the highest-revenue restaurants in the country, he has the experience to provide next-level service to guests, staff and the Nashville community alike as the general manager of the new Halls Chophouse Nashville. In his spare time, you can find him spending time with his family and dogs or playing beach volleyball.

Ellis and Chef Spencer will lead a restaurant in Halls Chophouse that was recently named the #3 U.S. Fine Dining Restaurant (its second consecutive year in the top three) and the Best Brunch Spot in the U.S. by Tripadvisors in its 2021 Travelers’ Choice® “Best of the Best” Restaurants awards.

Halls Chophouse is continuing to look for talent and will post new opportunities at its Nashville-centric recruitment site: https://www.joinhallsnash.com/. Benefits include back-of-house positions starting at $15 an hour and health, dental, vision, life and 401k for full time employees.

For local updates on Halls Chophouse, follow on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/hallsnashville/

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