Friday, August 31, 2012

BurgerFi Bringing Its Burgers to Brookhaven

North Palm Beach, Florida-based BurgerFi is coming to Brookhaven.  The new burger joint will open at TOWN Brookhaven and join numerous other chain restaurants.  BurgerFi will open adjacent to Swirll frozen yogurt and across from the recently shuttered Stir Crazy.  The restaurant will be about 1200 square feet and will likely feature both indoor and outdoor dining.

This November, the chain is also opening at Emory Point on Clifton Road.

TOWN Brookhaven has proven to be not the most succesful of restaurant locations and has even earned the designation as a "food court" amongst readers of this blog and neighbors in the area. Atlanta-based Boneheads Grilled Fish & Piri Piri Chicken is also opening a location at TOWN Brookhaven.  If comments left on a previous posting on Boneheads' opening is any indication of their success, they better prepare for a short run. 

Brookhaven does have plenty of young professionals as well as higher income older individuals, but the number of chain eateries at TOWN Brookhaven is a turnoff to many.  Many prefer the breadth of local options on Dresden, including local favorites Kaleidoscope and Haven.  Others would sooner drive the couple miles to Buckhead than be forced to such generic chain offerings. 

In its defense, BurgerFi does claim to offer a natural/hormone free burger and fresh cut fries. I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt, but on a recent trip to New York, I happened upon a similar concept called BRGR, and both the burgers and fries came out of frozen baggies and were awful tasting.  While the meat may have been hormone free and organic, there is something to be said for freshly prepared meat and fries that are cooked/cut to order.  Atlanta-based Farm Burger is a great example of a burger joint that lives up to the expectations in its promotional materials.  Everything is fresh and you can taste the difference.

Let's be clear though: I have not yet tried BurgerFi and cannot know what they actually bring to your table or how fresh their food is.  What I will say, is that it's hard to maintain quality and freshness the bigger a chain you become.  To that end, I recently spoke with a reader who loved BGR, a Virginia-based burger joint, when she lived in in Virginia.  Having now visited their new, franchised, Atlantic Station location, she hates it and will likely not return.

There are no burger joints in or around TOWN Brookhaven other than McDonald's, so let's hope they do have a great product and fair pricing.  If they do, they may turn out to be one of the few restaurant success stories to come out of the project.

BurgerFi is supposedly planning six additional locations, four in Alpharetta and two in Athens near UGA in the coming months.  Plans call for as many as 15 locations overall in the state over the next three years. 

Tampa, Florida-based Burger 21 and Lansdowne, Virginia-based BGR The Burger Joint are both entering the Atlanta market as well.  Burger 21 has two locations planned thus far, north Alpharetta and near The Mall of Georgia in Buford.  BGR has one location open at Atlantic Station and plans more. 

What do you think of the BurgerFi concept?  What would you like to see opened in TOWN Brookhaven?  Who do you think has the weakest concept?

Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

ps, While at TOWN Brookhaven I spoke with management at Costco and was told the sought after-asked about-and much needed gas station will be breaking ground in the coming weeks.  Costco has a commitment from their construction company to have the station open BEFORE the holiday rush.  **Cross your fingers**

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

You seem to have it out for Town Brookhaven. I live in the area and never hear anyone complain about the amount of restaurants or call it a Food Court.

And there is a burger place close by, Canyons.

mindspringyahoo said...

'There' makes a pretty darn good burger, and the bison (a double stack with cheese and avocado) is particularly good.

Anonymous said...

I live in Brookhaven and no one I know calls Town a food court. And other than Moe's and Flying Biscuit, what chains are in there? I wouldn't consider Noche, Baci (Cafe at Pharr) or Olde Blind Dog chains even though there is another location (or two) of each in metro Atlanta. And while Newk's, the Cinebistro and Wich Which are part of chains, they are the only Atlanta locations or one of a few in the case of WW. I'm a fan of your blog but am tired of your negative posts about TB. I shop at Publix and Costco there at least twice a week and eat at a restaurant or two in the development weekly as well. Am I among those who wish something other than a Bonehead's was coming in? Yes. I'd love a bagel and coffee place, for example. Am I overall pleased with my options? Yes. And maybe the burger place will turn out to be good - give it a chance.

Amy said...

FYI- Burgerfi will be roughly 4,000sf...not 1,200. They are never smaller then 3,000sf.

Anonymous said...

I am confused as to why you are such a HATER. maybe you can clear it up in an entry that is not quite so negative and one sided.
Town Brookhaven is a free market economy. Good places will flourish and others will flounder.
BUA, Noche, Old Blinde Dog, Cine Bistro, Moe's & Newks... all of which have other locations elsewhere are flourishing. There are some who have struggled and re-vamped and are now busier than ever i.e. TreZa.
The comparison between the multiple restaurants in Town Brookhaven and the few on Dresden does nothing to support your argument other than to add suspicion of some sort of alliance that you might have there, especially since the business volume on that road is considerably less now that Town Brookhaven is in semi-full swing.
I suspect that once they get the parking situation solved, Town Brookhaven will be the "go to place" for anyone who wants it all in one place. With a MARTA station less than a mile away and so much to do, all that is missing is a mortuary & even that is only 2 blocks away, and you could be born, live and die in Town Brookhaven.
And yes, I am biased I love the area and am glad to see the influx of entrepreneurs and the wonderful people they are bringing into our new city.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

As the owner of There (a real gastro pub) in Town Brookhaven, I'd like you to know that we serve 2 burgers, beef (house ground from 3 cuts) and a bison, also house ground. Both have received a fair amount of attention from the press, several large bloggers and critics (Knife & Fork included in that list). Many of my repeat and loyal customers and several bloggers (including hot dish review) consider our bison burger exceptional and possibly the best burger around. Stop by and give us a try, you won't be disappointed.

Unknown said...

As the owner of There (a real gastro pub) in Town Brookhaven, I'd like you to know that we serve 2 burgers, beef (house ground from 3 cuts) and a bison, also house ground. Both have received a fair amount of attention from the press, several large bloggers and critics (Knife & Fork included in that list). Many of my repeat and loyal customers and several bloggers (including hot dish review) consider our bison burger exceptional and possibly the best burger around. Stop by and give us a try, you won't be disappointed.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with the earlier posts. I'm a resident of Brookhaven and welcome all the new restaurants to TB! It's been a long time coming. Even the chains in TB are indepently, locally owned and operated. These guys are all entrepreneurs taking their shot, and as a local resident, I'll give them my support. Plus, the food AND atmosphere in the center is pretty darn good.

mindspringyahoo said...

There does seem to be a pervasive anti-tb bias in these posts. Here's my take:

"Many prefer the breadth of local options on Dresden, including local favorites Kaleidoscope and Haven."

I've driven along Dresden and have not really heard that much about the places on Dresden that draw me to them over the places at TB. And frankly, I'm not sure where the parking is for the Dresden places.

I can go to TB, drive down Hermance, and easily find plenty of FREE parking by the Marshall's. And on my last visit to TB I finally noticed a couple of staircases directly from that lot that take you up to Treza and to that closed Stir Crazy. In short, parking is easy.

"Others would sooner drive the couple miles to Buckhead than be forced to such generic chain offerings."

I live a bit closer to TB, but I'm more inclined to dodge the Buckhead area, and dodge the Buckhead valet parking.

Also, we ate at Treza a few days ago and it was good. Giant salad+nice 14 or 15 inch pizza for under $25 is not a bad deal at all (and that's pre-scoutmob).

Anonymous said...

I;m also not sure why you seem to dislike the restaurant mix at TB. There will be hits and misses in any shopping district. Maybe the mix is not as good as can be - but it is a free economy and anyone can apply and open a business at TB. Not sure the management in this economy will deny anyone that can open a store... If "food court" types is all they can get - then "food court" it is. It's better than empty store fronts - which is a turn off too.

Atlantan99 said...

Let me start by thanking you all for your spirited comments and debating.

First off, I have no negative bias towards TB, I just feel that there are too many restaurants in the complex. ( and how on Earth can there be like four boutiques all selling to the same demo... who's buying all their merchandise?)

Additionally, there should be no debate that parking is an issue. I try now to park at Marshalls when I go to Tre'za or something else near it. I do this because the limited parking in front of the restaurant is always a cluster. The fact that TB added multiple "10 minute" parking spots right out in front of multiple of the fast casual eateries only makes the situation worse. No one polices this and the popular restaurants monopolize the parking for everyone else, making potential customers too annoyed to continue to look for a space.

Also, I want to point out that in this one center... gelato is available at Publix, Costco and Tre'za. Frozen Yogurt at both Swirll and Marble Slab Creamery.

On the other hand, The Cup is a sad excuse for a coffee shop and the pseudo-Starbucks in Publix is ok but who really wants to hang out there?

Atlantic Station, yes, dislike like it on many levels and for a variety of reasons. TOWN Brookhaven however I want to like and I want to frequent.

The Costco is great, Marshalls is improving but not yet to the levels of the Buckhead stores and There and BUA are both great local options.

All in all I think there are a number of great things about TB but also a number of areas that need improving.

Here's to hoping that BurgerFi is as good ( or better ) than advertised and that Costco has a gas station before Turkey Day!

Thanks for your continued readership and participation.

Eli

Anonymous said...

It will all sort itself out ... the weak and poor eateries will go and the strong will survive.

The bottom line is that there is not much small footprint retail left ... other than service type place like nail salons, dry cleaners, etc.

Retail is now a world of online and big box. Unless you're a place like Asheville, NC .. where you actually have "blue laws" against chains and big box stores. But a place like Asheville also has a good bit of tourist foot traffic to support those kind of stores.

It seems to me that most of Sembler's ATL projects are eatery heavy (other than the anchor big box places like Home Depot and Target) .. you then land the telco stores like Verizon, ATT ... then Starbucks... then it's pretty much eateries.

Think about all the retail that is pretty much "ghost" now ... bookstores, video stores, small electronic stores, etc

Lee at rootsinalpharetta.com said...

Four in Alpharetta? You've got to be kidding me. Even if "Alpharetta" really means North Fulton, it's still a lot.

Unknown said...

Hello all! We just wanted to let you all know that we are so excited to open our doors in Brookhaven! We hope you all come out and try our all natural burgers. They are never frozen and have no hormones or antibiotics and they are really delicious (we're not biased)! We can't wait to hear what you all think! Check us out on facebook.com/BurgerFi for more information about what we are all about and feel free to ask us any questions!
See you soon!

Anonymous said...

I just had my first Burgerfi in Fort Lauderdale last week. Its delicious! great concept, very clean, I am so glad your opening in Brookhaven it a hundred times better then all the burger joints in Atlanta. You will not be disappointed.

Anonymous said...

oh goodie- yet another "fancy" burger place...we don't have enough of those in Atlanta, do we?
Bandwagon is getting crowded- some will have to get off.

Anonymous said...

What is the status on Burgerfi?
I have not seen any activity

Atlantan99 said...

@Anon,

Sadly the location is longer on the books and the "territory" is available should you want to open it yourself.

Thanks for reading the site and for your comments.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...