It's been a little over a year since Florida-based Bolay Fresh Bold Kitchen made their debut in Georgia and apparently things didn't go as planned. The restaurant opened August 11, 2022 and closed permanently as of October 2nd.
The restaurant, located at 10920 Haynes Bridge Road in Alpharetta, replaced a former Corner Bakery which itself closed in August 2020 after about seven years in business. Bolay was situated between existing outposts of Chipotle Mexican Grill and Cava.
According to the Bolay website, there are currently twenty six locations open in Florida, with one more "coming soon" to Tallahassee. A representative from the restaurant tells ToNeTo Atlanta that additional locations are also planned for Port St. Lucie and Plantation.
The company's Atlanta entry was one of two new markets the brand entered in 2022. Bolay also opened in Falls Church, Virginia this past November but the restaurant closed permanently in June. Despite the growth struggles, the Bolay website indicates that a second Virginia location - 5035 Wellington Road - is still coming soon to a former Zoes Kitchen in Virginia Gateway, a sprawling shopping center in Gainesville.
Bolay was started in early 2016 by Chris Gannon, who owns the concept with his father Tim Gannon, a co-founder of Outback Steakhouse. As its name suggests, Bolay features a variety of "bol" options where patrons can either build their own or choose from a "chef crafted" "go bowl."
Sources told ToNeTo Atlanta in 2022 Bolay was in negotiations for several other spaces around metro Atlanta as part of the company's target to open 100 new locations in the next five years. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which was elevated construction costs, those locations never materialized and its unclear what the chain's current growth projections are. That said, our source at Bolay did say a return to Atlanta is planned at some point in the future.
Did you ever visit to Bolay? Why do you think Bolay failed in their initial Atlanta expansion? What is your favorite fast casual restaurant either here already or that you would like to see expand to metro Atlanta?
Please share your thoughts below
16 comments:
I got to eat at Bolay on the first day in Alpharetta and also the last day. A year ago when it opened i thought it was overpriced and wouldn’t make the year of free meals I got for being one of the first customers.
A year later, with prices skyrocketing at other restaurants the Bolay prices, which stayed the same, didn’t seem bad at all. They did make it the full year for me to get my free meals and I am sorry to see them go, mainly for the employees who are now out of work.
I’ve eaten at this location a few times. I’ve tried multiple bowls and only really liked one. There wasn’t much marketing and if you’re not adventurous with trying new foods you’re probably not likely to go. The name wasn’t convincing and unless you walked in you may not know what they served. They were situated right in between Chipotle and Cava-two very popular “make your own bowl” restaurants. Good concept but mediocre food.
If you didn't post about it, then I never heard about it.
I live near this location and looked at acquiring the property for a friend's 1031 exchange when it was being marketed the other year. Biggest challenge is location Sucked! You could see it but couldn't get in without some convoluted path behind other restaurants. You had to be really committed to going there. Despite having driven past the bldg thousands of times over the years, I only tried to visit when I was looking at the purchase. After going in I immediately knew they were toast. Will be interesting to see how Cava does. My guess is they have more pull/name recognition. But it's not good real estate. Sorry
Honestly, I never heard of them before. I think when they mentioned “lack of marketing”, that could be a main reason that they didn’t last in the area.
I drive past that restaurant daily. I thought it was Indian food, thus no interest whatsoever.
This closure is not that surprising. I stopped in a few times for lunch and each time there was usually only a few people eating there, had a feeling they would not make it. The location is not ideal but Chipotle and CAVA were packed while Bolay was empty. Lack of name recognition was probably the main cause since no one outside of FL has heard of them. Being situated between 2 well known bowl places probably did not help either.
I prefer hog legs to bowls.
Dishonestly, I ate there every day!
This purported innovative founder Gannon is a complete moron with big hubris.
Other than a great grand opening, they failed to do any level of advertising and marketing for this location. Obviously with just one location, mass marketing was prohibitive, bit so many digital targeted advertising options were available and they never pursued any. They at least had enough minimal intelligence to send frequent email blasts to acquired customers who enrolled. And they were a top restaurant in the May 2023 Taste of Alpharetta, in meals served and at a great price point, but woefully inadequate continued marketing.
I speak as a former. Insider well aware of their shortcomings and how deficient top management in Florida is, in particular Gannon.
One of the greatest challenges, too, was reduced potential customers at the critical lunch time due to the large percentage of individuals still in at home remote work and not back in corporate offices. And competing just a few feet away from both Cava and Chipotle, despite a huge price advantage of a complete meal bowl enjoyed by Bolay, excluding drink starting as just $9.99, a price they held from opening day until closing this week.
The news story referenced local management as a factor in demise. Not accurate, as this store had one of the top general managers in all of Metro Atlanta, in terms of dedication, intelligence and work ethic, and over 20 years of fast casual experience. And Bolay spent money in top tier for their hourly employees in the challenging environment, far above both Cava and Chipotle.
My conclusion is Bolay was a great failure in Metro Atlanta and do not expect to see a return. They are the Backyard Burger of Bowls, for those who remember Backyard Burger demise years ago.
I went to one in FL, very strange mixture of ingredients and expensive. Too many other options with flavors that go together and make more sense.
There are more restaurants than patrons.
Love Bolay
Maybe that Alpharetta location wasn’t the greatest. We drove there from Woodstock several times and loved the fresh healthy options. We would love to have one in thriving downtown Woodstock, right in the square. I think it would do well there. We are so sorry to see it go. There aren’t many healthy bowl restaurants that I enjoy. Tired of the Chipotles and Moe’s Tex Mex offerings. Nice to get a healthy bowl that not the same thing. Come back to the Atlanta area!
My family came across Bolay for the first time in Gainesville on the way to Orlando. Our kids have food allergies, so we were thrilled to find a restaurant where they could eat almost anything they wanted. We were ecstatic to hear they were opening a location in GA. We traveled over an hour to visit and the first thing we noticed was how difficult it was to negotiate traffic to get to the restaurant. We heard they were considering a Macon location. We love Bolay and hope it comes to fruition. Until then, it will continue to be our favorite stop when we travel through Florida.
Very sad to see this go. We were weekly patrons, either eating there or getting takeout. It has been mentioned in other comments that it suffered by being situated between Chipotle and Cava. If that’s the case, that’s unfortunate as Bolay was easily the best out of the three. Delicious bowls and ingredients compared to the blandness of the other two. Unfortunate that people didn’t give it a shot.
Ate there many times & fell in love with their healthier & heartier bowl options. The food always tastes fresh. I also established a good rapport with management & I hope they’re all able to find work. I also introduced several family members who enjoyed the food as well. When I visit Florida, I hope to find a location & eat another good meal.
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