Chick-n-Sack Bringing the Spice to Downtown Knoxville at New Location

Chick-n-Sack, which has built a devoted local following, will plant its first brick and mortar (U.S.!) location at 410 West Jackson Avenue, former home of Sweet P’s Downtown Dive. The new location culminates quite a journey by owner James “Boo” Jackson. He wasn’t born here, moved here, left for another country, returned, and with his culinary ventures in recent years, has planted a very Knoxville flag. I caught up with him by phone to learn about the path that brought him to this pending location.

James moved to the area from his birthplace of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2008 when his father’s job was relocated to Alcoa. He’s lived here most of the time since but left for Eastern Michigan University where he got a scholarship to play basketball. He played briefly in the NBA, then moved to the European League where he spent his playing time in Greece, returning to East Tennessee during the off season.

He felt the entrepreneurial itch early, however, starting his K-Town Krack spice company “out of my college dorm room.” The company has gained traction in recent years and now, James says, “We’re in over 30,000 stores, with Publix, Food City, Food Lion, just to name a few.” He said they are also used by Aramark in Neyland Stadium. He modestly added, “We’re still growing,” explaining that they kind of exploded during the pandemic and are now found on Amazon and other outlets. That spice on the French fries at Neyland Stadium? That’s it.

James has gotten quite integrated with sports figures in Knoxville, as well. He competed against them but made a lot of friends along the way. They know his spice. “I have a lot of athlete buddies that were playing at that time. My agent, Jared Karns with A-3, was also from Knoxville and everything merged together.”

So how did he go from spices to a brick-and-mortar restaurant? James had planned to launch a restaurant around the time the pandemic began, using his spices on chicken wings and tenders. He pivoted a bit at the time. “I have food trucks and once I launched those, they became pretty popular.” That offered a good start, but then he got a phone call from one of the team owners where he’d played in Greece, telling him he was using James’ spices in the owner’s restaurant there. That lead to a deal which culminated in opening two locations (soon to be three) in Greece.

The same concept is coming to 410 West Jackson after a successful run in the Marble City Market Food Hall. James said the process of finding the right location took some time and he repeatedly expressed his thanks to Cross Smith and Brock Warwick with Oliver Smith Realty who helped him find the location. He said it’s been a whirlwind operating food trucks here, flying to Greece to make sure the restaurants there were functioning properly, and looking for a permanent location here. He said he’d not expected that the first locations would be in Greece, “But, hey, this is the first one in the U.S.!”

If you love the food trucks, never fear, they will continue to function even as the new space opens: “The food trucks are booked throughout. We’re already taking dates in 2027. It has its niche.”

“The downtown concept will be a sports lounge,” James said. “You’ll be able to watch games, and we’ll have events with some of my friends like Josh Dobbs and other guys that I kind of grew up with.” At the new location customers can come in and get their wings or tenders and “utilize our spices.” While chicken wings and tenders will dominate the menu, you’ll also find chicken sandwiches, burgers, and “healthy options like chicken salads.” There will also be a full bar.

James said the downtown location makes sense to him given the explosive growth of the area. He said the group at Marble City was great and he learned a lot, but he wanted his own location. It worked out well that Brock was an enthusiastic customer and that he was able to help James land near where he’d already found a following. “I just sat back and prayed, and this came about.”

He hopes to open in May or June. “I definitely want to get this thing rocking and rolling before football season.” He just closed on the building a couple of weeks ago, so details regarding hours, etc. will be coming later. He said what he does know is that it will be family-oriented, and you will feel his welcome. He’s done toy drives and other community-oriented efforts before, and he plans to continue doing those kinds of things as he becomes more a part of downtown.