Southwest joint supplanted by salads at Atlantic Station
Moe's Southwest Grill closed its Atlantic Station location earlier this evening after ten years in business. The Atlanta-based franchise, which was by all accounts one of the most popular Atlantic Station quick-serve eateries, was reportedly not offered a lease renewal.
Moe's follows the recent closure of Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro, which closed earlier this month at Atlantic Station. Both restaurants were original tenants in the project. Following their closure, the only other remaining original restaurant tenants in Atlantic Station are California Pizza Kitchen (CPK), Rosa Mexicano, Boneheads, Lobby Bar & Bistro and Kilwin's.
When it opened in late 2005 / early 2006, Atlantic Station was home to four "Raving Brands" concepts: PJ's Coffee, Doc Greens, Boneheads and Moe's Southwest Grill. Amazingly, despite massive struggles of the chain elsewhere, Boneheads at Atlantic Station remains open. None of the aforementioned brands are still associated with their former parent company. For example, Moe's is now part of Atlanta-based FOCUS Brands.
The 2,489 square foot Moe's space is expected to reopen later this spring as Salata. I first wrote about Houston, Texas based Salata this past fall when they announced plans to enter the Atlanta market with as many as 20 franchised locations over the next several years.
Salata, which refers to their concept as "The Next Generation Salad Bar," has over 50 locations in their home state of Texas as well as a handful of locations in both Illinois and California. Seen as a healthier offering, Salata offers patrons the opportunity to create their own "tossed-to-order fresh and healthy salad or salad wrap."
In some ways Salata seems like a scaled down, quick serve version of Sweet Tomatoes, but with an emphasis on higher quality salad ingredients and protein options. The restaurant will also feature assorted soups and organic teas. Despite the previous failures at Atlantic Station of Doc Green's and Au Bon Pain, which are similar in some ways to Salata, Hines, which purchased the property in 2015, seems to believe the demographics and traffic have changed enough at Atlantic Station to make Salata a success.
What are your thoughts on the closure of Moe's at Atlantic Station? Do you think Salata will be successful at Atlantic Station? Where else would you like to see Salata open in metro Atlanta?
Please share your thoughts below.
11 comments:
It seems foolish not to renew the lease of a long term successful tenant. Yes, a “next generation” salad bar sounds cool, but an empty store in 12 months doesn’t.
Never heard of Salata so I just checked out their menu. Their 10 homemade dressings (alone!) average 458 added calories to their salads with only a couple of low cal options. I think I'd pass on the 1000 calorie salad and just opt for a delicious cheeseburger.
I can understand Hines' desire to have "fresh" offerings at AS, but to not offer a lease renewal to one of the more popular restaurants seems like a poor move. I'm not at AS too often, but when I am Moe's is ALWAYS busier than the other fast casual options like Tin Drum, Boneheads, Which Wich, etc. I hope Salata is successful (as I always wish the best for a new business), but if/when it fails, Hines surely will be embarrassed to have this large empty space.
Salata is in Dallas. It's Good!
I have been to a Salata in Houston. Not very impressive. More like '90s era salad concepts like Saladworks than cooler new salads concepts like Chop't or Sweetgreen...
First of all, Hines doesn't own Atlantic Station. They manage Atlantic Station. I would guess that the demographics have definitely changed at Atlantic Station, given the addition of 1.4M sf of office (with more planned). Furthermore, that Moe's location was an embarrassment - dirty and poorly managed - good riddance.
I think Hines (as manager) is doing the right things to modernize the center as a whole.
Tried Salata in Plano Texas today and was very underwhelmed. Better than Sweet Tomato but I hope that isn't the benchmark.
Why on earth were they not offered a lease renewal?? It was always packed - I live in Atlantic Station and went there at least once a week. Can we petition to bring it back?? Thanks Atlantic Station, looks like I'm going to have to travel out of my neighborhood to get Mexican food.
Oh no! me and my family have come here for years and its always busy. I think this is a bad idea. Moes replaced by a salad bar.Interesting move
I live in Atlantic Station...The salad bar will not work. It will be closed within a year. Moes must stay!
Why not renew a lease for a popular restaurant? You can get cheap, low calorie, do-it-yourself salads at the Publix that's already there. A salad bar won't last long at all.
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