Nashville has produced several homegrown multi-location coffee operations that have moved beyond single-shop territory while remaining locally owned. These are not chains in the Starbucks sense: they’re independent businesses that happened to expand.
Frothy Monkey: Nashville’s Largest
Frothy Monkey is the biggest Nashville-born coffee operation by location count. It started in a 1,200-square-foot bungalow at 2509 12th Ave S in 12 South in 2004 and grew into an all-day cafe model that now includes four Nashville locations (12 South, The Nations at 1400 51st Ave N, Downtown at 235 Rep John Lewis Way, and East Nashville at 1701 Fatherland St), plus locations in Franklin, Chattanooga, and two Alabama locations in Birmingham and Homewood. It also runs its own roasting company and a wholesale bakery. The 2024 20th anniversary celebration confirmed its status as one of Nashville’s genuine hospitality institutions.
What sets Frothy Monkey apart from the standard multi-location coffee shop is the food operation. It serves breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner from scratch using regional sourcing, plus craft beer, wine, and cocktails. It is a restaurant that happens to have exceptional coffee, or a coffee shop that happens to have a full restaurant kitchen, depending on how you enter.
Barista Parlor: Eight Nashville Locations
Barista Parlor, founded by Andy Mumma in 2012, has grown to eight Nashville locations: the original East Nashville (519 Gallatin Ave), Golden Sound (610 Magazine St, though currently listed as closed in some directories), Germantown (1230 4th Ave N), Hillsboro Village (1817 21st Ave), Sylvan Supply (4101 Charlotte Ave), Marathon Village (1200 Clinton St), an undisclosed additional location, and a BNA airport location. Each shop follows Mumma’s “adaptive reuse” design principle, meaning each space uses its original building structure as a foundation. The East Nashville original is a former transmission shop. The Germantown location adapts a different industrial-era structure.
Barista Parlor roasts its own coffee at the Golden Sound location and operates at a quality level that has drawn national attention.
8th and Roast: Three Retail Locations Plus Airport
8th and Roast, founded in 2009 and owned by Reed Hospitality Group, operates three Nashville retail locations (8th Ave S at 2108 8th Ave S, Charlotte Ave at 4104 Charlotte Ave, and a third on 20th Ave S) plus two locations at Nashville International Airport. The wholesale operation extends nationwide. Unlike Frothy Monkey or Barista Parlor, 8th and Roast’s identity is rooted primarily in the roasting program and its relationships with farm partners.
Crema: Small by Choice
Crema Coffee Roasters, Nashville’s specialty coffee pioneer from 2008, has stayed at two Nashville locations (15 Hermitage Ave downtown and 226 Duke St in East Nashville) plus a Brentwood location. The deliberate constraint on expansion is consistent with the brand’s zero-waste, quality-first orientation. They do not appear to be scaling for scale’s sake.
The Distinction That Matters
All of these operations are locally owned and independently operated. Nashville has largely avoided the scenario, common in other growth-boom cities, of local coffee identity getting displaced by national chains. Starbucks and Dutch Bros exist in Nashville and do business, but they occupy different demographic and geographic territory than these independent chains. The local operations held their neighborhoods.
Sources
- Frothy Monkey about page and locations: https://frothymonkey.com/about/, https://frothymonkey.com/locations/
- NASHtoday on Frothy Monkey 20th anniversary: https://nashtoday.6amcity.com/food/celebrate-20-years-of-frothy-monkey-nashville-tn
- Barista Parlor Nashville Go listing: https://nashvillego.com/eat-and-drink/restaurants/barista-parlor-germantown
- Eleven Coffees on Nashville specialty roasters including Barista Parlor locations: https://elevencoffees.com/top-11-nashville-specialty-coffee-roasters/
- 8th and Roast official locations page: https://www.8thandroast.com/pages/locations
- 8th and Roast official history: https://www.8thandroast.com/
- Crema Coffee Roasters official locations: https://crema-coffee.com/