On Tuesday, Sept. 1, hundreds of local restaurant decision-makers attended the NARA Connect trade show held at Fat Bottom Brewing Co. The Nashville Area Restaurant Alliance helps local independent restaurants band together to earn discounts on goods and services and also to introduce potential suppliers at events like this week's trade show.
While there was certainly a good feeling of camaraderie and business networking taking place, much of the buzz was over an invited guest slated to speak at the event, Mayor Freddie O’Connell. Independent restaurants have been among the most vocal business owners bemoaning the major property tax hikes during the most recent assessment.
While O’Connell repeated the (true) fact that property tax rates have actually been decreased to historic lows, the restaurateurs seemingly weren’t buying it, because property values have skyrocketed during the same period. That’s great if you own the building, but most restaurant operators work under a triple-net lease, in which they are responsible for paying the onerous new tax bills while receiving none of the benefit of the increase in the value of the building. Even worse, tenants are not allowed to participate in the appeal process, leaving landlords to try to find relief for a bill they don’t pay. Building owners have little incentive to do that since they get to collect the increased rent until it’s time to send the check in to the city.
To his credit, O’Connell already addressed some of these issues during a Nashville Restaurant Radio podcast interview with NARA founder Brandon Styll. The additional opportunity for restaurant owners to hear from him in person was definitely a motivating factor that brought extra attendees to the event.
Mayor Freddie O'Connell addresses restaurant owners at NARA Connect, Sept. 1, 2026
As a current candidate for reelection, Mayor O’Connell began his speech with his expected listing of accomplishments during his first two years in office. Aware of his audience, he did try to connect some of them to how they might help the hospitality industry and shared some of his own tribulations as a previous small business owner.
He spoke about the city’s new Legacy Business Program aimed at helping businesses that have been in operation for more than 15 years. Kimberly Wolff of 312 Pizza asked if there could be any consideration for businesses like hers that have been open since 2014 and are also struggling. Considering that the mayor mentioned that he had ordered from his neighborhood pizza parlor frequently, he seemed like he genuinely wanted to try to find a way to help, but the initial $300,000 earmarked for the program’s first year can only be stretched so far.
The toughest questions came from Will Newman, owner of Edley’s Bar-B-Que, Edley’s Tacos and, most recently, San Antonio Taco Co. O’Connell first made Newman promise not to change the guac or the queso at SatCo before addressing the gap between property tax increases and restaurant revenue growth.
He shared that the state has options like the Greenbelt policy, which allows some qualifying agricultural, forest and open-space lands to be taxed based on their current use value rather than higher market or development value so that a plot of farmland doesn’t have to pay the same property tax as if it were an outlet mall. O’Connell suggested that perhaps something like that could be carved out for small businesses or historic properties.
He admitted that the median assessment of a 45 percent increase was unusual, but suggested there had been a discount after COVID followed by a surge in property values, so it was necessary to catch up. He reminded attendees that the Metro Charter includes a tax rate cap, which might be encouraging or discouraging when you consider that there is still room to raise the actual rate if the rise in property values slows down.
In the end, the best promise Mayor O’Connell could make to the assembled business owners was that he heard them loud and clear and that he was working with his team to assemble a package of options to present to the state during its 2027 legislative session. How well that will be received is anyone’s guess, but considering the animosity between state leadership and Metro (and the mayor's office), there’s definitely a lot of work to be done.
