OWNER | WATER INTO WINE BISTRO & LOUNGE
Moving to Knoxville from Southern California was a complete culture shock for Candace Viox. Moving her senior year in high school when her parents retired left her with more questions than answers, “Why are the roads so curvy and where are the curbs?” “Why does everyone here talk to everybody even if they don’t know them?” “Why is a strange man holding the door open for me?”
Fast forward 26 years, and Viox realizes that she loves all the things about Knoxville that she questioned in her youth. “I have fallen in love with the southern hospitality,” she said. “I have raised my children here and have made lifelong friends along the way. Knoxville is my home, and leaving this town does not seem like an option anytime soon.”
As owner of Water Into Wine Bistro & Lounge in Farragut, Viox has enjoyed watching her business grow. Knoxville’s growth has impressed her as well. “The elected leadership has paid close attention to the possibilities of our city, and they have answered the call,” she stated. “The future of Knoxville will continue to explode with growth as the cultural influx of new people makes Knoxville their home.”
Viox is the first to admit that the road that led her to this point and to opening her bistro has not been an easy one. “Life’s challenges are opportunities to start the next chapter,” she explained. “Losing my marriage, my mother and my health all within the same year forced me to make a choice. I chose to fight my overwhelming circumstances and turn my anger into my life’s purpose of serving others.”
Calling upon her strong faith to help pull herself up from the lowest point in her life, Viox decided she wanted to open a different kind of “bar.” A relational lounge where people come to talk, not watch TV. “I wanted to open a place where a person can get healthy food, great wine and beautiful drinks served by a team of people who will ask people about their day,” she said.
“I wanted to create a local Farragut ‘Cheers’ where people feel comfortable and relaxed. I named my concept ‘Water Into Wine’ to pay tribute to my mother because she would always say ‘If Christ’s first miracle was turning water into wine, we could drink it.’ I’m very proud and grateful to have seen my dream come to fruition.”