Fondue restaurant The Melting Pot is planning a comeback in Memphis, and three first-time franchisees are at the helm.
Middle Tennessee residents Nancy and Mike Williams, and their son Keel Williams, a Memphis resident, are planning to open The Melting Pot in the former Pyro’s Fire Fresh Pizza at 1199 Ridgeway Road in East Memphis. The restaurant is expected to open next year.
As longtime fans of The Melting Pot themselves, Nancy Williams said they decided investing in the company was an exciting next step into the hospitality business. Mike Williams' previously served as a longtime partner with Tennessee Distilling Group, a whiskey producer and distributer, in Columbia, Tennessee.
the dining scene
Franchising The Melting Pot connected different aspects of the family's lives "perfectly" in location and with a new business opportunity, Nancy Williams said.
“We just love the hospitality business and love that our son gets to be where he wants to be in Memphis, and we get to do the business with him,” she said. “Memphis is just a really fun town and an exciting town.”
'An experience,' not an ordinary dinner — plus a nod to Elvis
For those who never tried the restaurant during its first Memphis stint, dinner is done differently at The Melting Pot than most sit-down restaurants because — guests cook their own food. Visitors pick out a cheese fondue mix and salad to start. Two entrée packages are selected next, and come with a variety of meats and veggies. For example, the Land and Sea entrée includes garlic pepper sirloin, shrimp, herb-crusted chicken breast and Atlantic salmon.
Finally, on to dessert, chocolate fondue is an option, served with a multitude of fruits and treats.
The concept is similar to a Korean Hot Pot, except the fondue cooking methods of choice include broth, oil, or grill to accommodate the whole table. She said the newer grill pans, an alternative to cooking in broth and oil, sold her husband on the concept.
"It’s all about the experience," Nancy Williams said. "So be prepared to spend a few hours inside.
“There's a core menu that all Melting Pots have, and then there's a lot of local choices, local favorites that people add. The chef for Memphis is creating [a fondue] for us called Burning Love, that's Elvis-based. So it’ll have chocolate, peanut butter, bananas. And it's literally burning. You can ignite the peanut butter whiskey that's on top of it.”
Williams has a few favorites of her own that she recommends when the time comes.
She’s partial to the Alpine cheese, created with gruyère cheese and white wine and Wisconsin cheddar, made with its namesake and Sam Adams Boston Lager.
Some foods might seem familiar.
“There are a lot of Southern influences at The Melting Pot,” she said. “They have a Memphis dry rub pork that's available at most Melting Pots nationwide … and sauces like Nashville hot sauce.”
The Melting Pot opened a Memphis location in 2004 at 2828 Wolfcreek Parkway in the Wolfchase area, before closing down in 2014. But the franchise's involvement in Memphis didn’t end there — The Tampa, Florida-based chain, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, has been working with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for over 20 years as its official charitable partner, raising $20 million for the hospital to date.
Now that a restaurant will be back in the local market, Williams said she hopes to increase their involvement with the children’s hospital, especially given her personal experience with St. Jude.
“We've been there with the fundraising winners in The Melting Pot community, the ones that have raised the most money,” she said. “They get to come and see the facility and meet some patients. We had a chocolate fondue party for the kids there. It’s a very good longstanding relationship, and kids and chocolate kind of go together. We hope to build on that partnership.”
Jacob Wilt is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal covering Dining, Retail and Real Estate in the Memphis area. You can reach him at jacob.wilt@commercialappeal.com.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Here's what to expect from the next Memphis Melting Pot location
