"We had a better shot in Nashville," Tony Galzin says. "Even though there are so many new places coming in, it's still easier than Chicago. If you're going to take a risk on your first place, it's still going to be less money than Chicago."

In 2017 alone, nearly 70 new restaurants across a number of genres have opened in Nashville, whose metro area has a population about one-fifth the Chicago area's. Couple that with more than 1,400 new hotel rooms since 2016 (and nearly 4,800 under construction) and the approximately 80 people who move to Nashville every day, and the city is ripe for expansion—and many observers feel there's room for more.

"There aren't enough restaurants opening," says Ryan Poli, former executive chef/partner at Tavernita, Barcito and Little Market Brasserie, who moved from Chicago to Nashville in January 2016 to be executive chef of the Catbird Seat. "I think we can open more. This city is ready for it."

That's possibly what has made Nashville so attractive to established Chicago restaurants opening there, including Headquarters Beercade, Sunda, Gino's East, Parson's Chicken & Fish, Parlor Pizza, Big Onion Tavern Group's Hopsmith and Hogsalt Hospitality, which is planning to open an RH Gallery Cafe. Marc Bushala, a real estate developer and managing partner at MAB Capital Management whose Chicago properties include Untitled Supper Club and Morgan Manufacturing, bought two buildings in downtown Nashville and plans to open a craft distillery, for which he has partnered with Nashville's Corsair Distillery owner Darek Bell.

Nashville is an hour flight or a seven-hour drive from Chicago and, according to its convention and visitor center, Chicago is the No. 1 fly-in city to Nashville. Billy Dec, a partner in Rockit Ranch Productions, which is opening its sushi restaurant Sunda in the Gulch neighborhood mid- to late winter near the Thompson Hotel, started visiting Nashville about seven years ago and quickly fell in love. He credits Nashville for having a similar enthusiasm toward hospitality as Chicago and says the city has a welcoming attitude for new businesses with a hip population hungry for new concepts that Chicago chefs and restaurateurs can offer.

"Nashville has always been a credible city when it comes to food and hospitality," Dec says. "It didn't have the diversity back in the day, but there's an incredible hunger for foreign flavors and experiences now. It has become a very fertile place for growth. If you're going to expand to a city that's booming, there's nothing closer in relationship or value."

Gino's East Executive Vice President Noah Himmel visited many U.S. cities over the past couple of years looking for expansion opportunities and says Nashville quickly shot to the top of his list. Himmel will open his 100-seat deep-dish pizza spot next to the Country Music Hall of Fame in downtown Nashville in mid-2018, and although he says the city has been great to work with, there have been hurdles. "Everyone is really busy," Himmel says. "A lot of contractors are saying that what used to take a few weeks is taking several months."

Max Goldberg, who has helped fuel the new wave of restaurants and bars with Strategic Hospitality's many restaurants, agrees that Nashville wasn't ready. "Companies that service restaurants weren't prepared for this onslaught and are playing catch-up," Goldberg says. "And we struggle with staffing."