Editorial
Front Page - Friday, September 3, 2010
Car Barn offers a striking venue for events of any size
David Laprad
Tara Plumlee is the owner of The Car Barn, an event venue in Chattanooga. With its unique décor and all-inclusive service, The Car Barn has already established itself as a premiere gathering place.
- David Laprad
Tara Plumlee had just opened her third catering company in Chattanooga when she realized the thrill was gone. A creative and ambitious individual, she wanted a new challenge, something that would allow her to do something she’d never done before.
“I’d created ‘A Silverware Affair,’ and it was exciting and new. And then I wanted to produce something closer to my personality, so I launched ‘A Food Attitude.’ By the third go-around, it was wa-wa-waaa,” she says, mimicking the well-known sound effect that plays on TV shows when something falls flat.
Plumlee realized the next logical step would be a venue where her catering clients could hold their events. But she wanted something unlike anything else Chattanooga had to offer. As she searched for a place that would fit the bill, her hopes faded.
Then her father, owner of Rib & Loin, told her The Car Barn was for sale.
“I didn’t want to look at another boring venue because it wouldn’t be like me to have just another square room. But when I saw this place, I knew it could be something special,” she says.
A brief tour
The “something special” begins the moment guests pull up to the venue, located on Heritage Business Court. With its vintage gas pump and classic orange and blue Gulf sign, the exterior of The Car Barn sets the tone for a unique experience.
Just inside the door, an old-time vertical piano and other antique furnishings continue the effort to draw visitors into another era. But the real kick back in time comes as guests enter the main hall and look along the walls that surround the 7,000 square foot space. From one end of the room to the other, a combination of elaborate building facades and vivid hand-painted murals recreate old Chattanooga and offer guests plenty of colorful eye candy.
In one niche, the stained glass doors of The Grande Salon stand open to reveal a large black and white print of the inside of an old time beauty parlor. The parlor gives way to a mural of a street that stretches into the distance, the road picking up where the facade leaves off, creating a smooth transition between elements.
Across the “street” stands Schlichte Café, which combines actual neon lights and a mural to create a striking scene. The most eye-catching facade is “The Dixie Theater,” with its illuminated movie marquee, classic film posters and working popcorn machine.
More large murals by artist Cathy Morris fill the space between facades of AllState, Pioneer Bank and a Krystal restaurant. From the Walnut Street Bridge, to the Coolidge Park carousel, to the Tennessee River, Morris covered the walls with interesting things to see.
The illusion spills onto the floor, which is actually a street that curves from one end of the hall to the other. Walking along its brick surface, guests will eventually come to an antique truck from which life-sized replicas of the Blues Brothers watch over every event.
There’s more to The Car Barn than meets the eye, too. For example, a large painting of a fire engine emerging from a darkened station is actually a garage door that leads to a courtyard, allowing clients to hold events outdoors.
Plumlee’s concerns about offering “just another square room” evaporated the first time she saw the place.
“People want to enjoy their party. They don’t want something so formal, no one can relax or have a good time. I’m about stuff that’s out of the ordinary, so when I walked in here, I fell in love with it because there’s nothing like it in Chattanooga,” she says.
Clients that want to hold their event in a smaller space can take advantage of the upstairs area, which features a conference table; a game table; an old bar from the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club; a lounge with reclining chairs, a television and a fire place; and dressing rooms for brides and grooms. The décor includes sports memorabilia, antique car models and hunting trophies.” “Grooms love this space,” Plumlee says.
All-inclusive service
Whether a customer wants to take advantage of the main hall or the upstairs, the entire venue is theirs, as are all of the amenities The Car Barn offers, including tables, chairs, linens, centerpieces, servers and catered food and beverages, including desserts and non-alcoholic beverages. Clients are welcome to provide their own specialty cakes, alcohol and entertainment.
“We’ll take care of everything from start to finish. We’ll even emcee your music if you’re on a budget,” Plumlee says.
From board meetings to weddings, and family reunions to holiday dinners, Plumlee says The Car Barn can accommodate a variety of functions. Plus, the atmosphere can be customized to suit almost any occasion.
“If you want a white glove wedding, this might not be the place for you, but you could have the rehearsal dinner here the night before. We could turn on just the city lights to create a special mood,” she says.
A brief history
Businessman Gregg Under-wood built The Car Barn several years ago as a place to store his antique cars and get together with his friends. Over time, these friends started asking Underwood if they could throw parties at The Car Barn, and then friends of his friends started putting in requests. When Underwood sold the place to Plumlee, she kept the name because of how well known it had become.
The Car Barn has something else no other venue in Chattanooga does: Plumlee, a woman as remarkable and stunning as the venue. Reared by her father, Plumlee started working in his restaurant at age 13. After graduating from Baylor, she attended New York University to study theater, then switched schools and majors to finish her bachelor’s degree at the University of South Florida. No stranger to hard work, she earned her master’s of business administration at UTC in about 18 months. “If there’s a project to be done, it’s all I’m doing,” she says.
After a brief stay in Cali-fornia, Plumlee returned to Chattanooga and took a job with a publicly traded real estate investment trust. One she’d learned the ropes, she went to work for a similar company in Atlanta. She then watched as another company purchased her employer and went on a firing frenzy.
The mass layoff triggered something in Plumlee, who realized she wasn’t meant to work for someone else. So she put together a business plan for a restaurant, found a location and turned in her notice.
“When I was young, I’d line up my teddy bears and tell them everything they needed to know. There has always been something in me that wanted to lead,” she says.
Running the restaurant was
an open-to-close, every day affair, and while Plumlee was getting rave reviews, the establishment was treading water as a business, so she shut it down. After blowing off more steam in California, and spending a winter snowboarding in Aspen, Plumlee returned to Chattanooga and launched A Silverware Affair.
“I started out with nothing except the equipment from my restaurant, and I only bought in cash what I could afford,” she says. Plumlee even traded in her own car for a passenger van.
At first, Plumlee worked alone; as her business grew, she hired a staff and purchased a home in East Brainerd to serve as a kitchen. When she outgrew that place, she moved into her present location in the Brainerd Hill Shopping Center. Today, her passenger van has become several trucks, vans and trailers and she and her staff have handled as many as seven events in a single day.
“Getting to this point was not a piece of cake. This was not handed to me. But I operate well under pressure. It excites me. It pushes me to complete my next big thing,” Plumlee says, throwing her fists in the air and going “Woo!”
Plumlee does admit to being driven to the point where her life is unbalanced. She also says she’s never satisfied. But she has two insurance policies against taking on more than she can handle.
“I’ve told my staff to say ‘no’ the next time they hear me come up with an idea. Because while I enjoy The Car Barn, it was an instant success. I thought I was going to have to work harder to sell it,” she says.
Plumlee, 34, also has Kaben Steele Plumlee, her “surprise baby,” to keep her in check.
“You’re given what you’re supposed to have. I needed someone to teach me, and he’s doing that, even at two,” she says.
Like Kaben, The Car Barn is quickly filling its britches. Plumlee has already booked weddings in 2011, and has other clients that will be making regular use of the place. But there’s room in the schedule for more, and Plumlee is ready to pencil in the next caller.
With Chattanooga talking about The Car Barn, and the place buzzing with events, Plumlee is keyed up. The thrill is back, and like the Blue Brothers, she’s ready to rock and roll. Woo!
For more information, visit www.thecarbarnchattanooga.com.
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