Yee-Haw Brewing Company has reopened in downtown Greenville, but the popular brewery and eatery located at 307 E. McBee Avenue has undergone a big change since its doors closed earlier this year.
The brewery has since undergone a major renovation of its outdoor area, adding more than 6,000 square-feet of space, the largest outdoor screen in Greenville for viewing live sports, basketball hoop shot games and more.
But perhaps the biggest – and certainly the hottest – change the brewery has taken comes with the opening of Prince’s Hot Chicken within the brewery.
The new Prince’s location marks the first time the legendary Nashville hot chicken restaurant has opened anywhere outside of Music City. Yee-Haw sales and brand manager Andrew Felty said Yee-Haw will continue offering pretzels and chicken wings, which were the biggest sellers on its old menu, but the rest of the kitchen space will be converted to house Prince’s, which will offer counter-style service.
“It was very important for us to keep the wings and pretzels on our menu, seeing as people enjoyed them so much,” Felty said. “But we’re really excited to be able to champion Prince’s. They’re the originators of Nashville hot chicken, and absolutely nobody does it like they do.”
Prince’s has developed a cult status not just in Nashville but across all of the Southeast region, earning a James Beard Award and the praise of culinary luminaries like chef Sean Brock, who founded the Husk concept and Joyland in Nashville.
“If you have friends coming to town, the first thing you do is go to Prince’s,” Brock wrote about Prince’s on behalf of the James Beard Foundation. “There’s this nostalgic thing about it… It has that soul, that vibe you can only get from a place that’s been there forever.”
A family legacy
The story of Prince’s Hot Chicken began with a late night out on the town and an angry girlfriend.
At the grand opening in Greenville, Andre Prince Jeffries, the current owner of Prince’s Hot Chicken, told the story of her great-uncle, Thornton Prince. While today Prince is known for founding Nashville hot chicken, back in the day he was mostly known for being a ladies’ man.
“My great-uncle was married five times,” Jeffries said, laughing. “So you can imagine the effect he had on women.”
One night, Prince was out late — as usual — while his girlfriend at the time was stuck at home, having no idea where he was.
“My great uncle’s girlfriend was so mad at him for coming home so late in the wee hours – well, it was probably daybreak,” Jeffries said, laughing. “And you can’t blame her.”
According to legend, that girlfriend decided to take her revenge on Prince by serving him a meal of fried chicken doused in hot peppers and spices. But the plan backfired (no pun intended), because Prince liked the chicken so much, he decided to open his own restaurant to sell it.
“We say he was the founder of Nashville hot chicken, but I give the woman credit for having started it. We don’t know who she was, but that fiery woman is still going on. Her legacy lies on,” Jeffries said.
Opened in a small house in 1936, the chicken shack soon became a neighborhood favorite, ultimately growing in popularity and significance as the decades went by.
Years later, Former Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell was conducting culinary history research at the Kennedy Center at Harvard University, during which time he discovered that Prince’s Hot Chicken was the first to do hot chicken in the entire country.
“All over the world now people come out to eat at Prince’s,” Jeffries said. “I’ve been interviewed by major magazines across the globe, which is still beyond my imagination. And we’re just a little hole in the wall place. So don’t ever think that a little small place can’t make a mark in this world.”
Although she had set herself on never opening a location outside of Nashville, Jeffries said she was grateful to the folks at Yee-Haw for “being so persistent.”
“I said we’d never get out of Nashville because you can tell I’m not about money,” she said. “However, it did and still does continue to get a bill paid every now and then. And this is just a totally magnificent, beautiful concept.”
All Jeffries hopes for the future of Prince’s is to maintain the legacy that has thrived since it began so many years ago.
“I’m most grateful to our dear, supportive customers who come constantly – their grandchildren, great-grandchildren still coming. Those who are with us and those who’ve gone on,” Jeffries said. “I thank you all so much. There’s no me without you.”
