Sundrop Shoppe serving up tasty nostalgia

Owner Paige Moore said her family first came to Tullahoma in 1930, opening up Prescott Bottling and Distributing. Originally a Double Cola distributor, the family began bottling and distributing Sun Drop after it was invented in 1949 in St. Louis.

“I have always worked in restaurants and really enjoyed it and my dad had always wanted to open up a restaurant that had some sort of tie in to Sun Drop,” Moore said from behind the restaurant’s counter. “He had thought about a bakery or something like that, but the soda shop idea was something that really appealed to both of us.”

Moore said she considered a few location options before deciding on the brick building that dates back to the 1800s.

“There was a company in Atlanta that could build a stainless steel dining car to spec and bring it in on a tractor trailer and set it down and just hook it up, but that was just prohibitively expensive,” she said. “We looked at some other options and then I had the idea in January 2019 about remodeling a building we already owned.”

After hiring a contractor and removing the paneling from the walls, showing the original red brick, Moore said they knew they had found a winner.

Moore said menu items are named after different members of her family, such as Uncle Ray’s Cream of Tomato Soup, Nanny Graham’s Chicken Salad Plate and Grandaddy’s Pimento Cheese Sandwich.

“It is all family recipes, and we have soups and salads and sandwiches and we serve a scratch breakfast all day,” she said. “Then of course we have Sun Drop cake and other desserts and hand scooped milkshakes and malts.”

Moore said it is hard for her to choose a favorite item on the menu.

“People ask me that and I say it is kind of like picking my favorite child,” she said.

General Manager Ashley Davis said she has been with the Sundrop Shoppe and Luncheonette since before it opened, and enjoys being a part of all aspects of the restaurant.

“I have only worked one corporate restaurant in my entire career, and I think just the opportunity of this place being new and a family run business, I knew it was really going to fit my goals and my sense of corporate morals,” Davis said. “I look at the menu all day, I look at people eating food all day and I still go home and think about what else I can make.”

“I have the opportunity to do that here,” Davis added.

Moore said the community support for the Sundrop Shoppe has been incredible, and she has enjoyed becoming a part of Tullahoma’s business community.

“It is people and food, so it is two of my favorite things together,” she said.