Nick Hays

Director of Operations

Nick joined the Toot’s Staff in 2002, and has since worked in many capacities, at every location. He fell in love with the restaurant industry while attending school. After receiving his BBA from MTSU, he joined the Toot’s Management team in 2011. He assisted in opening the newest location, Toot’s West, and looks forward to our future as a company. He currently lives in the Blackman area with his wife Lauren, and sons Jack and Grant. He is an avid cyclist, and especially enjoys mountain biking. Nick has worked for Toot’s for over 21 years.

Jennifer Roark

Administrative Assistant

Jennifer Graduated from Blackman High School in 2003. She joined the Toots family at the Smyrna Location in 2004 while attending Motlow State Community College. After 15 years in Smyrna she transferred to Toots West to help open our newest location in 2019. In August 2020 she was promoted to join the Toots Corporate office team as administrative assistant. She has seen toots evolve and has enjoyed working with so many wonderful people over the past 18 years. She is a mother to Parker and Karaline. In her free times she enjoys watching our Tennessee Vols and Titans.

Toot’s Broad
(Est. 1985)

John Renteria, General Manager

John was born in Los Angeles, California. He lived in El Paso Texas during his middle school years and moved to McMinnville Tennessee in 1985. John has been in the restaurant business for 25 years, and has lived in Murfreeboro since 1988. He is a graduate of MTSU with a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration. John was on the opening team and General Manager of Toot’s on South Church Street, and has been with Toot’s for almost 13 years combined. He has always felt Toots has been a stable and well-respected restaurant in our community, that has withstood the test of time with its great food, prices, and service over the years. In his spare time he enjoys golfing with his friends every chance he can get, traveling, going to the gym, and watching his favorite teams play.

Toot’s Smyrna
(Est. 2003)

Jennifer Cherrone, General Manager

Jennifer is the General Manager of Toot’s Smyrna. She first started out as a Hostess in 2017 and moved her way up the ranks as a Cashier, Server, Bartender and Manager. She even worked at the original Toot’s location, Toot’s on Broad Street for some time before transferring back to home base. Jennifer is currently attending MTSU as a full time student pursuing a degree in Psychology with two minors: Mental Health Services and English. Her hobbies in her free time consist of giving love to her fur babies, Theo and Zeus, binge watching movies, reading books and having a good time cherishing memories with friends and family. Jennifer believes very strongly in the Toot’s vision of “Good Food & Fun,” and hopes to pass it on to future generations to come. Let the wing legacy fly on!

Toot’s South Church St
(Est. 2010)

Rhett Uttermark, General Manager

Rhett is the General Manager of Toot’s South. He has lived in Murfreesboro on and off throughout his life. Rhett first joined the Toot’s Team in 2018. He started out as a Server and worked his way up into management. Rhett enjoys spending his free time with his wife Grace and his fur babies Bubba and Freya. His hobbies include listening to audiobooks, playing video games, and hanging out with his friends. Rhett’s favorite things about Toot’s is the lifelong friendships he has found in his coworkers as well as the family friendly culture. During his time as General Manager, Rhett strives to promote the “Good Food and Fun” tradition to customers and employees.

Toot’s West
(Est. 2019)

Alex Simpson, General Manager

Alex has lived in Murfreesboro majority of her life. She graduated from Oakland High School in 2015. She has been in the restaurant industry for 8 years. She has experience with hosting, serving, bartending and managing. She started at Toot’s West as a server and moved up to management. She worked at Toot’s South briefly and is now back at West to be the general manager. She thoroughly enjoys the atmosphere that all the Toot’s locations bring. She is a mother to her daughter named Kaisley and a fiancée to Tate. On her free time, she is always with her family or friends. Also, she really loves going to concerts. She hopes to strive employees to be the best version of theirselves and promote “good food & fun” while doing so.

Wade Hays

President and Owner-Operator

Wade Hays been with Toot’s Restaurants since the 1980’s, first as the Managing Partner, then later in 2005 he and Keitha purchased the original Toot’s on Broad St. and began the group of Toot’s restaurants you see today.

He has served on many local Boards of Directors such as The Boys and Girls Clubs, The Chamber of Commerce, The United Way, The Discovery Center at Murfree Spring, and The Red Cross to name a few. In 2000, he was selected by the City of Murfreesboro to serve on The Mayor’s Task Force to purchase the property now known as Medical Center Parkway…. Murfreesboro’s Gateway!

Wade has received numerous awards such as:
-The Tennessee Boys and Girls Clubs Board Member of the Year-
-MTSU’s Business Person of the Year-
-The Chamber of Commerce Chairman’s Award-
-The Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the Year-

Keitha Hays

Officer and Owner-Operator

A “Registered Nurse” by trade, Keitha has been the Co-Owner and bookkeeper for Toot’s for over 20 years.
She has been heavily involved in all of Toot’s business decision making as well as it’s Philanthropy. She is responsible for Office Administration, HR, and payroll. She also maintains legal and tax compliance for the nearly 400 Toot’s employees as well as approximately 100 vendors and agencies. Keitha is truly a benevolent force in Toot’s restaurants’ ongoing success.

Keitha and Wade have been married for over 37 years and have three children: Nick, Rachel (Peters), and Sam.
They have 4 Grandchildren: Jack Hays, Grant Hays, Vivian Peters, Walt Peters, and (the late) Kate Hays.
They are members of New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro.