The first restaurant was founded in 1972 by five University of Tennessee students, and is now headquartered in Maryville, Tennessee. The first location was adjacent to UT's Knoxville campus at the corner of Twentieth Avenue and Kingston Pike (now Twentieth Street and Cumberland Avenue). The building still stands, but it is now occupied by a Stefano's Pizzeria and a bar called Charlie Peppers, both of which are local institutions in their own right.