Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Burger 21 A Bust in Less Than 90 Days?

Burger joint "temporarily closed" in Snellville.

Burger 21, which opened its Snellville location at 1575 Scenic Highway in early June, has "temporarily closed," according to its website and facebook.  The restaurant shared an outparcel space in the Academy Sports + Outdoors-anchored shopping center but had little street visibility.  

The restaurant reportedly closed last week.  

On August 26th, a facebook user named Jimmy Thompson posted to the Snellville Burger 21 facebook page asking: 

"Why is your Snellville location closed?"

On August 29th Burger 21 responded saying:

"Hi Jimmy! We are sorry to say that our Snellville location is temporarily closed. We do not have a re-opening date at this time. Thank you for visiting us and we are sorry for the impact our closing has had. We invite you to dine at one of our other locations in Buford, Johns Creek, and Buckhead, Georgia." 

The phrasing of the above statement leads me to believe the closure may be permanent.  Alternatively, sources with knowledge of the situation indicate there may be a franchisee issue.  These same sources remain hopeful that corporate will install a new franchisee to reopen the restaurant.  

Burger 21's opening came just ahead of the recent opening of Freddy's, a popular steakburger and custard eatery.  Culver's, another similar eatery, plans to open just north of Burger 21, in the coming months. Additionally, Cook Out, the hugely popular North Carolina-based burger joint, is coming to Snellville too, just south of Burger 21.  

Earlier this month, Burger 21 announced it had signed a multi-unit franchise agreement to develop two additional restaurants in the Atlanta area. Father-and-son franchisee team Dwight Pearson and Jamion Ridon plan to open two restaurants in Midtown and Sandy Springs over the next two years.  The father-son duo plan to open their first Burger 21 location in Sandy Springs by fall 2017, and a second location in Midtown the following fall.

Aside from the Snellville location, existing Atlanta area Burger 21 restaurants are located in Buckhead, Buford and Johns Creek.  

Burger 21 currently has about 24 restaurants open nationwide.  

The first Burger 21 opened in Tampa in late 2010.  The chain was created by the owners of The Melting Pot.  

Are you surprised to see Burger 21 "temporarily closed" in Snellville?   If you live nearby, who offers the best "bang for your buck" burger in Snellville?  If the closure is in fact permanent, what would you like to see open in place of Burger 21?

Please share your thoughts below  

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Never thought the Snellville location was good visibility wise. Getting in and out of that corner center can be awkward. Then when they finally opened the layout of the restaurant was strange unlike the Buford location that seemed to work and flow better. The franchisee problem sounds plausible, because they took a very long time to open up and once they did the gentleman who looked to be in charge appeared to be unsure of it all.

Personally I don't like the food its too expensive trying the bring a chain boutique vibe that just doesn't resonate well. Many I spoke to had a mediocre to bad experience there and I bet they slowed down significantly once the school year began. A deli cafe like Jason's would do well there. With all the burger options coming to the Scenic Strip corporate at Burger21 might want to consider just cutting their loses in Snellville.

Anonymous said...

Snellville absolutely sucks. it's already bad but it continues to get worse.

Unknown said...

@Anonymous at 10:13, could you be more specific on how exactly Snellville "sucks?"

Anonymous said...

Who could have imagined that Snellville wouldn't support 40 burger restaurants?

Ham said...

I don’t live or work in Snellville, but have several friends who live in Grayson/Loganville so we occasionally meet in Snellville for dinner. While I agree things are being over developed and long term this could lead to a lot of empty run down business, but I’m not sure it’s fair to say that currently, “Snellville sucks”.

There are several nice places to eat and shop down there and while traffic is bad it’s by no means the worst in the Atlanta area. Local government needs to slow down a little and take a more long term strategy to future growth, but in general I’d say things by no means “suck”.

Anonymous said...

One of the top academically performing high schools in the Gwinnett, GA, USA has a Snellville address. And developers have a lot more land to buy from wealthy locals who want to flee this area and get out before it truly does "suck". Yes the city and county municipalities in especially southern Gwinnett need to slow it down because they are facing citizens that are fighting to keep the this area from "sucking". They might think about what they are attracting versus the tax property base that will be gone "buh bye" when unScenic highway turns into looking like Memorial Drive in about 20 years. A commenter already stated that commercial RE like the Avenues or "sucky" Shoppes only have a 15-20 life expectancy.

Brookwood. When it starts to decline then Snellville will begin to "suck".

Burger21 probably wouldn't survive too long if they came back with all the bad press and experiences. Five Guys would do better than Burger21.

Anonymous said...

"Who could have imagined that Snellville wouldn't support 40 burger restaurants?"

With Burger 21 gone now there are just 20.

Anonymous said...

Went to Culvers this week in Dawsonville. The quality of everything is top notch made from scratch. Very fresh burgers, you can taste the difference. Even the fish is hand dipped. Custard is creamy as can be. I want a Culvers closer to ATLANTA. DEKALBish. Lastly, was a huge fan of cookout and Culvers is way ahead of them in every way.

Skrybe said...

Yes, a Five Guys would do much better there. Whoever thought putting a burger boutique and a jewelry store in the same parking lot with an Academy Sports store was a good idea was someone who clearly did not care about researching target audiences. I thought they were both a bad idea as soon as I saw what was being built. No surprise here that Burger 21 is already going down in flames. Once Culver's opens less than 2 minutes down the road, this place will be forgotten.

Anonymous said...

The foundation construction has already begun at the Culver's site. Having Culver's on one end of Scenic, Cookout near the other end, and Freddy's & Steak N Shake in the middle of this bumper to bumper traffic will probably be fine on the burger front. Oh the Checkers at the corner of RR Pkwy which I don't ever go to.

Construction has started on Cracker Barrel. Cookout and Taco Bell building are going up fast. Was told that McAllister's Deli was looking to open in Snellville.

Always up at Academy Sports buying stuff for my kids and last night I saw several people walk up and read the 'temporarily' closed sign on the windows at Burger 21. My ametuer business instincts tell me that opening back up wouldn't bring customers back think cutting their loses even though that is probably a lot of money lost. Diners can go to the Buford location when at MOG if they want Burger 21.

Anonymous said...

Culvers is like a Dairy Queen, just a step above it. What is unbelievable is that Burger21 sold a franchise to a different franchisee than the current one that commited to six of them and that they are going to allow the second franchises to open in Sandy Springs when there is already one at Chastain Square. I would be upset if I was the first franchisee and this new one was encroaching on my area.

Anonymous said...

2 months and Burger21 is still "temporarily" closed in SNVL. They have been closed longer than they were open. Corporate needs to make a decision and just cut their loses. We personally will not go back to this location. JMHO

Anonymous said...

Have lived in Snellville for 15 years..... I have never seen an area ran by a bunch of non thinking , tax driven goofballs like this. Areas such as Lawrenceville square, Duluth Square, Lilburn square, Decatur square, Suwanee Square , Etc .... actually have forward thinking people on their councils. They have developed an area where people can park and walk to pubs and eateries . In Snellville , your clothes will go out of style before you make it 1/2 a mile in any direction. Our city council's solution is to build 5 more hamburger joints, 5 more nursing homes, 3 more jewelry stores , 6 more grocery stores , apartments, and 600 more houses. WITH NO PLAN for traffic relief..... The only savior right now for this area is Brookwood High School.....but..... when they have to start putting learning pods( BS name for trailers) at the high school to accommodate the 10000 students.....that's when the area is in the toilet..... adios Snellville! The true folks that tried to protect this area will be leaving this fast food fiestaville in droves looking for what this town used to be. Great job city councilmen and women!

Anonymous said...

To Anoymous at November 7, 2016 at 9:29 PM

The city leadership cannot force business and restuarants that you erroneously believe will thrive in your city. Cities get what the demographics can support and a lot of research goes into what a city like Snellville can and will support. Comparing cities like Snellville in the demographically decaying part of southern Gwinnett to more established and progressive cities you mentioned is ludacris. Open your eyes and look around everywhere in Snellville but Brookwood and you will see why Snellville will never be like even a Liburn or Decatur.

Burger21 Snellville was in a bad location with subpar management - operator. They will not open back up and I bet Pollo Tropical closes there too. Snellville can plan and have a vision but the demographics are the key to making those plans work and come to fruition.

Anonymous said...

I would love to see a TOM &CHEE there in snellville and please put a steak & shake on hwy 78 where the Bojangles is....that place is always empty and dead!

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