Wednesday, January 2, 2019

[FOUL!] FEED Fried Chicken + Such Shutters at The Battery Atlanta

FEED Fried Chicken+Such at The Battery Atlanta has closed.  The quick-serve chicken restaurant opened at the mixed-use development adjacent to SunTrust Park in late August 2017, and closed this past Sunday, December 30.  The restaurant, part of chef Marc Taft's Southern Fried Hospitality, was to be the first of at least three locations.  Additional outposts of FEED were previously announced to be opening in Halcyon in Forsyth and Peachtree Corners Town Center in Peachtree Corners.

Tomorrow's News Today - Atlanta reached out to chef Taft to get comment from him regarding the additional planned openings.  


In an email to ToNeTo Atlanta, Taft indicated that "The new openings are still underway at this point."

He further explained that  "we plan on continuing to develop the FEED concept."

When explaining the decision to close at The Battery, Taft detailed what he considers a saturated market and a general lack of "organic traffic" at the complex on non-game days/during the off season.  

"As you know, the restaurant industry is very competitive, especially in over saturated markets like Atlanta. We are proud of the FEED concept and have received very good feedback from our guests. Unfortunately, organic traffic is imperative for the success of any restaurant. Outside of baseball games, the traffic is much lighter at the Battery than expected. In addition, a large part of the footprint of the Battery remains undeveloped and unleased. With the lack of brick and mortar retail locations and more tenants to draw people to the Battery, we just can’t support a restaurant with such high occupancy costs."

"We plan on focusing on our successful locations in Marietta and Alpharetta and continuing to serve the Atlanta community."

ToNeTo Atlanta spoke with real estate sources who indicated that FEED may open in both Halcyon and Peachtree Corners, but also may not.  

Chef Taft's other Atlanta area restaurants he references are Chicken and the Egg, not far from the Square in Marietta, and Brine Seafood Shack, at Avalon in Alpharetta.  Both Chicken and the Egg and Brine are full-service restaurants, whereas FEED was a counter service restaurant that also featured a full bar (reportedly a stipulation of the lease.)  

Last March, AL.com reported that RCP Companies, developer of Huntsville's MidCity and CityCentre developments, partnered with Southern Fried Hospitality and award-winning chef Marc Taft, an Alabama native "to provide hospitality management and restaurant development for the two mixed-used projects."  The partnership called for multiple Southern Fried operated restaurants as well as a food hall. 

FEED is the second restaurant to close in The Battery in the past few months following the abrupt closure of celebrity chef Hugh Acheson's restaurant at the Omni hotel, Achie's, which closed this past November.  

Are you surprised that FEED closed at The Battery Atlanta?  What are your thoughts on the retail and restaurant mix at The Battery Atlanta?  How many times on non-game days have you shopped or eaten at The Battery Atlanta?

Please share your thoughts below.  

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm really saddened to hear this restaurant closed I truly enjoyed as sandwiches for lunch during work. I feel the battery could do a better job at advertising to the Cumberland community that they have more to offer than just Stadium. I feel more individuals would come here 4 lunch and dinner if they understood what was inside. Perhaps a Sign by the main Road dictating restaurants exist.

Anonymous said...

Not surprised at all. The food wasnt very good. I bet if Hattie B’s was there they wouldn’t have the same issue.

Anonymous said...

Chef Marc Taft did NOTHING to get more traffic at the restaurant and kept kitchen staff that were really bad or high... they kept running out of everything so a restaurant that had little traffic had enough food for even less customers?

Anonymous said...

The only bright spot was the walk up bar and the bartenders, Katy and Maddie!

Anonymous said...

I'm saddened that I never got to try it out. The last time I went to the Battery, it was for lunch at the El Felix on a day the Braves were out of town. The restaurant was still on a wait.

Anonymous said...

The restuarant failed bc the management team there was absolutely the worst. They lacked any business skills. I bet the new Feed locations close too. They could have exceeded but instead they blame foot traffic instead of taking accountability on their failures.

Anonymous said...

Agreed! No social media posts in 6 months, seriously?

Anonymous said...

I worry about the almost fast-casual type restaurants (doesn't fully fit, but not El Felix, Yardhouse, etc.) at the Battery during the off-season. There is good off-season traffic, but I feel for dinner in particular people want more than what a place like this offers. In short, if you're going to drive and park, I feel people are more likely to opt for traditional dinner/drinks as a value proposition.

Of course, none of that is true on gamedays.

Anonymous said...

Yes, the restaurant was located on "that other street" at the Battery which garners much less "organic" foot traffic, but I agree with most of the sentiment here. In my opinion, there was much more that could have been done by management to attempt to draw customers to the restaurant. For example, the trendy Edison bulbs lighting up their sign were way too dim to be seen at night from even the other side of the street. Contrast that with Wahlburgers', which you can't miss if you tried.

Food was very good; FEED will be missed.

TN said...

I was just sending a co-worker over there today with her guest! I played up the delicious food (collard greens, mac & cheese, and the chicken...oh the chicken!) I am truly going to miss my cheat day spot. If I could not go further south in Georgia for some good old fried chicken, then the FEED was the place to go.

Where are you now?! :(

Anonymous said...

Is feed due to reopen?? there is one of those yellow cobb county alcohol notices on the door as of this morning.

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