UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549 FORM 3 INITIAL STATEMENT OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES 1. Name and Address of Reporting Person PATEL, CHETAN 7000 Central Parkway, Suite 850 Atlanta, GA 30328 2. Date of Event Requiring Statement (Month/Day/Year) 01-01-00 3. IRS or Social Security Number of Reporting Person (Voluntary) 4. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol BUCKHEAD AMERICA CORPORATION BUCK 5. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check all applicable) ( ) Director ( ) 10% Owner (X) Officer (give title below) ( ) Other (specify below) SVP - BAC Franchising, Inc. 6. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Day/Year) 7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check Applicable Line) (X) Form filed by One Reporting Person ( ) Form filed by More than One Reporting Person ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned | ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| 1. Title of Security |2. Amount of |3. Ownership |4. Nature of Indirect | | Securities | Form: | Beneficial Ownership | | Beneficially | Direct(D) or | | | Owned | Indirect(I) | | ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| Common Stock, $.01 par value |0 | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Table II -- Derivative Securitites Beneficially Owned | ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| 1.Title of Derivative |2.Date Exer- |3.Title and Amount | |4. Conver-|5. Owner- |6. Nature of Indirect | Security | cisable and | of Underlying | |sion or |ship | Beneficial Ownership | | Expiration | Securities | |exercise |Form of | | | Date(Month/ |-----------------------|---------|price of |Deriv- | | | Day/Year) | |Amount |deri- |ative | | | Date | Expira- | |or |vative |Security: | | | Exer- | tion | Title |Number of|Security |Direct(D) or | | | cisable | Date | |Shares | |Indirect(I) | | ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| Stock Option |(1) |4/26/06 |Common Stock |2,000 |$5.38 |D | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Stock Option |(2) |6/26/07 |Common Stock |3,000 |$6.88 |D | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Stock Option |(3) |5/28/08 |Common Stock |3,000 |$7.37 |D | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Stock Option |(4) |5/27/09 |Common Stock |3,000 |$5.25 |D | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Stock Option |(5) |5/25/10 |Common Stock |7,000 |$5.00 |D | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| Explanation of Responses: (1) Option is exercisable as follows: one-third immediately on 4/26/96 (the "Grant Date") and one-third on each anniversary of the Grant Date. (2) Option is exercisable as follows: one-third immediately on 6/26/97 (the "Grant Date") and one-third on each anniversary of the Grant Date. (3) Option is exercisable as follows: one-third immediately on 5/28/98 (the "Grant Date") and one-third on each anniversary of the Grant Date. (4) Option is exercisable as follows: one-third immediately on 5/27/99 (the "Grant Date") and one-third on each anniversary of the Grant Date. (5) Option is exercisable as follows: one-third immediately on 5/25/00 (the "Grant Date") and one-third on each anniversary of the Grant Date. SIGNATURE OF REPORTING PERSON /s/ Chetan Patel Chetan Patel DATE January 3, 2001