Monday, December 18, 2017

Flip Burger Bows Out of Buckhead After Seven Years

Flip Burger Boutique on Roswell Road in Buckhead's Tuxedo Festival shopping center has closed.  The roughly 4,100 square foot restaurant opened in late 2010 in a large portion of what had then most recently been a Blockbuster Video store.   The gourmet burger chain announced the closure on their Instagram page on Monday afternoon with no explanation, asking patrons to continue visiting the original, and now lone, Atlanta location on Howell Mill Road on the Westside. 
Inside Flip's Buckhead location

"After graciously allowing us to serve the community for seven years, we have closed our Buckhead location. But please continue to visit us at 1587 Howell Mill Rd. Thank you for the past 7 wonderful years In Buckhead!"

Flip's Buckhead closure follows the closure of the chain's Poncey-Highland location on North Highland Avenue in November 2015. A Nashville outpost that opened in 2008 closed this past September, while the chain's location at The Summit in Birmingham, which opened in 2009, remains open. 


In closing the Poncey-Highland location, ownership blamed its proximity to the Westside and Buckhead locations, while the Nashville closure was blamed on increased competition from fellow Atlanta burger join Farm Burger.  There has been no official reason provided for the Buckhead closure where competitor Burger 21 shuttered their nearby location earlier this summer.  


Flip Burger's website claims that Top Chef alum and original partner Richard Blais is still the restaurant's "Creative Director."  It's unclear if that is actually still the case given that Blais has not lived in Atlanta full-time since relocating to San Diego in 2013 to open full-service restaurant Juniper & Ivy.  Additionally, this past September, Chipotle Mexican Grill partnered with Blais to infuse their upstart burger joint, Tasty Made, with “new, high-quality menu items.”  


Edens, the owner of Tuxedo Festival, still shows the Flip suite as occupied by the burger eatery, which seems to suggest the closure was both sudden and without a tenant waiting in the wings.  


What would you like to see open in place of Flip at Tuxedo Festival?  Do you think the parking situation, which has gone from bad to worse at Tuxedo Festival, played a part in the closure?  Which is your favorite burger joint (location)?


Please share your thoughts below. 

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

meh. no real loss.

jeff a. taylor said...

Of all the "gourmet" burger spins, I thought this came the closest to being an interesting, fun, and creative take. The space was weird and wild and worth a visit, but the parking just couldn't be ignored and the staffing seemed to run hot and cold.

Anonymous said...

"The gourmet burger chain announced the closure on their Instagram page on Monday afternoon...and "Edens, the owner of Tuxedo Festival, still shows the Flip suite as occupied by the burger eatery, which seems to suggest the closure was both sudden and without a tenant waiting in the wings."

Or it could simply indicate Edens has not updated their web site in 18 hours!!

Anonymous said...

Flip Burger on Howell Mill will not last much longer. Richard Blais disassociating himself with the brand was a sign. Their health scores could be better and there's a lot of competition. Farm Burger sets the bar for grass fed burgers, good customer service, and without being pretentious.

Anonymous said...

Tasty Made has already closed down. Chipotle folks threw in the towel on that concept and are focusing on their fast casual pizza joints

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