Monday, June 8, 2020

[EXCLUSIVE] Ted's Montana Grill Shutters Two Atlanta Area Restaurants

The owners of Atlanta based Ted's Montana Grill have permanently closed two Atlanta area locations.  The restaurants, located at Cumberland Mall near Smyrna and at the corner of West Ponce de Leon Avenue & Commerce Drive in Decatur, are still marked as "temporarily closed" on various sites, but have both been confirmed closed and have been removed from the Ted's Montana Grill website.  The closures  leave the chain with eleven locations in Georgia, which is still its largest market.  Three of the chain's remaining metro locations are in Cobb County: in West Cobb, East Cobb and Kennesaw.  
Ted's Montana Grill, founded by LongHorn Steakhouse founder George McKerrrow Jr. and media mogul Ted Turner, has always been based in Atlanta, but opened its first restaurant in Columbus, Ohio in 2002.  Eventually the chain grew to 55 units but several waves of closures have left the company with just 41 restaurants today.  In late 2010, the chain closed nine "under-performing" units, primarily in the Midwest. Subsequent closures have included locations in Austell, Fayetteville and Newnan, Georgia.  Over the past few years, the chain also closed restaurants in Indianapolis (2017), Dublin, Ohio (2018) and Boulder, Colorado (2019), among others.   

Ted's, like other restaurant chains we have reported on previously, is likely taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to shed under-performing units from its portfolio.  Atlanta-based Southern Proper Hospitality Group, as well as Austin, Texas-based Chuy's have also made similar moves in metro Atlanta which should create greater financial flexibility for their respective restaurant groups moving forward.  

ToNeTo Atlanta exclusively reported this past October that Ted's will be "moving" their flagship Peachtree Road location to the "Upper Westside."  The move, which has been in the works for some time, is due to the fact that the Shepherd Center purchased in late 2018 the land on which both Ted's and neighboring restaurant Uncle Julio's are located.  Shepherd Center paid roughly $20 million for the 2.7 acre site where it plans to expand its housing program for patients’ family members.

The closure at Cumberland leaves a restaurant opportunity in the front of the mall where fellow casual dining establishments Buffalo Wild Wings, The Cheesecake Factory, Maggiano's Little Italy, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, and Stoney River Steakhouse & Grill all remain open.  

Are you surprised to see Ted's Montana Grill close two restaurants in Atlanta?  What is your favorite casual dining restaurant in metro Atlanta?  What would you like to see open in the now former Ted's at Cumberland Mall and in Decatur?  

Please share your thoughts below.  

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

For a chain restaurant, we've always thought TMG is really good, but it's also pretty expensive and we just don't go there very often. Bison burger with bleu cheese is delicious. We also like that they have baked sweet potatoes.

Cody Cargle said...

Unfortunately not surprising to see Ted’s close at Cumberland Mall recently because they are expensive to eat at, the food tasted good, but after the one in Austell, Georgia closed years ago I quit eating there after I moved, so honestly Cumberland Mall will be fine, considering the mall is doing better than Arbor Place in general, and still holding ground to Town Center at Cobb still. 🤔

Anonymous said...

Yuck goodbye Ted!

Anonymous said...

You failed to mention the Luckie Street location when mentioning the only metro Atlanta locations. Has it closed too?

Dij said...

Sorry to see Ted's go. Great place to eat. It was my "special occasion" restaurant.

Cody Cargle said...

Anonymous said on June 8, 2020 at 10:34 PM You obviously must have had a bad experience with Ted’s Montana Grill, because they actually tasted better than most chain restaurants there problem was price, so either way your crazy if you think they are yucky. 😂

Anonymous said...

Bona Allen Bldg / Luckie Street is Corp Office, restaurant, training, and Ted living up on top of bldg. that’ll be the last one to close if ever.

Anonymous said...

Teds is over priced, dirty and gross. Close them all. They treat their people like trash.

Cody Cargle said...

Anonymous said on June 10, 2020 at 10:29 Am Ted’s was overpriced but they were never gross or dirty, you obviously never had a real good meal, unless it was a hole in the wall restaurant, lol speaking of people getting treated like trash, oh lord I won’t go on and ramble how many times people on this blog asking me to hop of this blog considering it’s a free country, so therefore you need to rethink what you said your calling the kettle black meaning judging a book by its cover! 🤣

Anonymous said...

I have never been a fan. The only thing Ted's has over other grill chains is exotic meat options. If that's not your thing, there's really nothing worth going there for when there are many, many other options.

Cody Cargle said...

Anonymous said on June 11, 2020 at 12:20 Am Oh okay, but bison meat is tasty, it’s better for your health over beef, and it’s better than deer meat even, well either way I would like to eat one, one day again whether it’s Tallahassee Florida the closest one to me now, or the one in Kennesaw before it shuts down for good or West Cobb as well. 🤔

Anonymous said...

There are Ted's in Gwinnett and Forsyth too (4 total).

Unknown said...

Great! I love Bison and was told Ted's Montana Grill had the best, now I can try it in Gwinnett. Love that Bison!

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