Monday, January 16, 2017

EXCLUSIVE: Holler & Dash Bringing its Biscuits to Atlanta

The Holler & Dash in Homewood, Alabama
New to market concept coming to the Westside.

Holler & Dash, a nearly one year old breakfast and lunch concept, is entering the metro Atlanta market with a location on the Westside.  The new restaurant will replace Tom + Chee, a grilled cheese eatery, which closed about a week ago after one year in business at Westside Ironworks.  

Its corporate parent would prefer that Holler & Dash make a name for itself, but it's hard to not make light of the fact that Holler & Dash is owned by Lebanon, TN based Cracker Barrel. 

While my confirmation of this location came from a well placed real estate source, Holler & Dash did not respond to my facebook comment seeking information on the Atlanta location.  "Holler & Dash, LLC" was registered with the Georgia Secretary of State's office December 20th, 2016. While that alone only hints at the brand's plans to enter Atlanta, the more telling evidence of an exact location came from an innocent facebook post. 

A photo that Holler & Dash's Culinary Director Brandon Frohne posted to his personal facebook page last week includes a shot of he and Jay Holdren, the brand's Director of Operations (aka Biscuit Warden), in "Atlanta, Georgia." Further examination of the photo reveals it was taken at Tom + Chee's westside location.  (Frohne, Holdren and Mike Chissler, the brand's Chief Operating Officer (aka Biscuit King), also enjoyed a meal at West Egg Cafe.)   

The landlord at Ironworks reportedly insisted that given the parking constraints, its replacement be a "breakfast and lunch only" concept, a prerequisite Holler & Dash definitely satisfies.  
Frohne and Holdren pose outside Tom + Chee Westside
Launched this past March in Homewood, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, Holler & Dash is a counter service restaurant that features a variety of biscuit options along with assorted other complementary fare such as grits, parfaits, steel-cut oats and beignets, among other things.  The restaurant also features a variety of hot and cold coffee options, teas, beer/wine, craft sodas and the many options of the Coca-Cola Freestyle.

Akin to its relationship to Cracker Barrel, Holler & Dash also features a small "retail shop," where it sells assorted regionally produced items such as Doux South products from Atlanta chef Nick Melvin. 

I visited the original Holler & Dash this past spring in Homewood, and anticipated the company making its way to Atlanta eventually.  A second Holler & Dash opened in Tuscaloosa this past summer, followed by a location in Celebration, FL, just outside Orlando, this past November. Earlier this month, Holler & Dash debuted their newest location in Brentwood, TN (near Nashville).  The Brentwood location celebrated its "Grand Opening" this past week.

When the company revealed plans for their Brentwood and Celebration locations this past summer, it was clear to me that Atlanta would likely be included in their next round of openings.
The ordering counter and retail offerings inside the Homewood Holler & Dash
It is interesting that Holler & Dash chose the Westside to make their debut in Atlanta.  Their new restaurant is literally across the street from local favorite West Egg Café, and down the road from where The Flying Biscuit Cafe will soon reopen.  While many businesses (banks, grocery stores, car dealerships, burger joints, etc.) like to be near their competition, this location is still a bit of a head scratcher.   

It's worth noting that many Nashville locals were similarly amazed to see Holler & Dash enter their market where local upstart Biscuit Love has established themselves with a significant following.  In the case of Nashville, the new Holler & Dash is miles away from the current Biscuit Love (in The Gulch) and the future location in Hillsboro Village.  

Established in 2004 and in its current home since 2010, West Egg Café is a locally owned, table service, breakfast, lunch and brunch restaurant offering a wide variety of breakfast and lunch favorites.  The restaurant has experimented with dinner hours in the past, but currently operates primarily as a breakfast, lunch and brunch restaurant (7am - 4pm Monday through Friday and 8am-5pm Saturday & Sunday) with the exception of their Oddbird pop-up concept.  Oddbird, which offers a variety of waffles, chicken and biscuits, takes place at West Egg from 5:30 until 9pm on the second Wednesday of the month effective February 8th.

Across all current locations, Holler & Dash is open from 7am until 2pm, hours more closely aligned with those of Egg Harbor Cafe, which operates from 6:30am - 2pm, seven days a week.  

Have you been to Holler & Dash?  Do you think Holler & Dash will do well on the Westside? What is your favorite breakfast spot in Atlanta?

Please share your thoughts below.  

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think a new place to alleviate some of the weekend West Egg traffic will be good. Unless you go before 9am, West Egg is just impossible.

Unknown said...

agreed. I'm a westsider myself, and there never seems to be enough brunch locations somehow. From vinings to midtown they all have massive waits if you arrive after 10am.

Coolio said...

How is this not going to have the SAME EXACT PROBLEM that Tom + Chee had?!

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