BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. — According to Phillip, a restaurant owner, people in Maryville drive about 30 minutes to Knoxville for what he calls authentic Asian food.
“And also, currently, at our location here on Callahan, we have many customers from Denso factory that drive all the way here,” Phillip said.
He owns Lim Asia cafe in Knoxville.
“Factory workers, they come here, they love our food,” he said.
Customers have been asking him to bring the cuisine to Blount County. After contemplating for a few years, he said now is the right time.
“So in east Tennessee right now the first store the mother store will be in Maryville. the second stone will be in Alcoa,” Phillip said.
It's not just one restaurant. The Blount Partnership said Blount County is booming with new businesses and people are moving from other states.
“And then the revenue. we are expecting a lot of sales over there,” Phillip said.
“So, you know, anytime that, you know, got businesses locating here, it's good for the entire area,” Jeff Muir said.
With the Blount Partnership, Muir said that the Chamber of Commerce signed hundreds of business licenses over the past four months.
“Lately, we've had over 500 business license applications since January,” he said.
He credits this to people moving from all over coming to East Tennessee.
“For instance, we have we had a family from Chicago that had a cleaning business in Chicago, they moved down here to Maryville,” Phillip said.
And he said many of those businesses are family-owned.
“Which, as we know, are the backbone of any community. So we're excited about that,” Muir said.