Westgate Resorts Partners with Southern Comfort Whiskey to Launch its First Restaurant

GATLINBURG, Tenn., October 6, 2020 – Westgate Resorts is pleased to announce the opening of Southern Comfort restaurant – a new Southern-cuisine dining experience located at the award-winning Westgate Smoky Mountain Resort & Spa. Southern Comfort restaurant showcases the very best dishes from the South, including low-country, soul food, creole, Cajun and good old southern home-style cooking, and is the first restaurant to open in partnership with the iconic Southern Comfort® whiskey brand, making it the most authentic comfort food restaurant Gatlinburg has to offer.

“Our partnership with Southern Comfort whiskey brings together the rich history of this iconic brand with the innovative culinary execution, world-class service and unique dining experiences that Westgate Resorts is known for,” said Mark Waltrip, Westgate’s Chief Operating Officer.

“We are thrilled to partner with Westgate Resorts on such an exciting project in one of the South’s most scenic settings. The connection between Southern cuisine and the nearly 150-year-old Southern Comfort brand is a natural that we think guests will love,” said Jake Wenz, Chief Commercial Officer, Sazerac Company, who owns Southern Comfort Whiskey.

The Southern Comfort restaurant menu features:

● An assortment of Bites & Bowls that includes: Fried Green Tomatoes, Catfish Nuggets, Fried Okra, Chicken and Dumpling Soup, Creole Gumbo, Deviled Eggs 3 Ways, Southern Caesar Salad and Freshly Made Pork Rinds.

● A collection of Signature Southern dishes that include: Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf, Creole Jambalaya, Carolina Shrimp and Grits, Texas Chicken Fried Steak, Southern Cast Iron Rib-Eye, Fresh Mississippi Catfish and Southern Fried Chicken and Biscuits.

● Southern Comfort Award-Winning Barbecue freshly prepared each day, that includes: Slow-Smoked Pulled Pork, Baby Back Ribs and a Smokehouse Platter.

● American Wagyu Ribeye; sourced locally from Black Hawk Farms in Elizabethtown, Ky.

● Classic desserts including Pecan Pie and Banana Cream Pudding, as well as Southern Comfort Beignets and Peach Cobbler – both served over House-Made Vanilla Ice Cream.

Open from 8:00a.m. to 9:00p.m. daily, the menu also features a variety of breakfast favorites including Farm House Biscuits and Gravy and Savannah Praline Pancakes, as well as lunch specialties including their Southern Burger and Nashville Hot Fried Chicken Sammy. An expansive drink menu will also be offered, featuring signature cocktails including the Bold Fashioned – our twist on a classic old fashioned, made with Southern Comfort and Peychaud’s® bitters and poured over a whisky ball.

Southern Comfort restaurant follows all CDC recommended polices and guidelines under the company’s flagship WestgateCARES enhanced health and safety plan. This includes tables arranged to comply with social distancing measures, seating capacity capped at 50 percent and the use of paperless, touch-free QR code menus. In addition, the entire Southern Comfort restaurant service and food preparation teams are required to wear masks and gloves at all times.

Southern Comfort restaurant joins Westgate Resort’s celebrated lineup of Tennessee eateries, including Wild Bear Tavern, ranked the no. 6 restaurant overall and the no. 1 German restaurant in Pigeon Forge on TripAdvisor. For more information about Southern Comfort, visit Southern Comfort's Official Dining Page, at Westgate Smoky Mountain Resort & Spa.

About Westgate Resorts

Westgate Resorts is the largest privately held timeshare company in the world and one of the largest resort developers in the United States. Founded in 1982 by David Siegel, the company is headquartered in Orlando with 7 Orlando hotel resorts, and 24 themed destination resorts nationwide, featuring more than 14,500 luxury villas and hotel rooms in popular vacation destinations throughout the United States such as Miami, Orlando and Cocoa Beach, Florida; New York City, New York; Park City, Utah; Las Vegas, Nevada; Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Williamsburg, Virginia; Branson, Missouri; Mesa, Arizona; and Tunica, Mississippi. Most Westgate Resorts locations feature a variety of unique restaurant, retail and spa concepts, including Villa Italiano Chophouse, Drafts Burger Bar, Edge Steakhouse, Westgate Marketplace & Deli and Serenity Spa by Westgate. For more information about Westgate Resorts, visit www.westgateresorts.com.

About Southern Comfort Whiskey

Southern Comfort Whiskey was created by M.W. Heron in 1874. Rooted in its southern hometown of New Orleans, Southern Comfort is one of the world’s largest whiskey brands with sales in over 100 countries. Southern Comfort is available in Original 70pf, Black 80pf and in a 100pf offering. Southern Comfort is owned by the Sazerac Company of New Orleans. For more information visit www.southerncomfort.com