For the second day a in a row, a roughly one year old restaurant has been listed for sale. This time it's breakfast and brunch eatery Pancake Social at Westside Paper along West Marietta Street in West Midtown.
Boxcar Betty's, a Charleston-based chicken joint, closed in the project in March after about a year in business. The space was quickly backfilled by Dumpling Factory. Elsewhere Brewing closed at Westside Paper and in Grant Park at the end of October. The Westside Paper location - officially Elsewhere Brewing Greenhouse Taproom - opened in September 2023. Bar Diver, a restaurant from Richard Tang, also opened in September 2023, but closed a few weeks ago at the end of October.
Anne Quatrano (Bacchanalia, Star Provisions, and W.H. Stiles Fish Camp) partnered with restaurateurs Dan Jacobson (formerly of Chick-fil-A), Steven Chan (Tin Drum Asian Kitchen), and Tony Riffel (co-founder of Octane) in opening the pancake restaurant. The menu features a variety of sweet and savory pancakes, bowls, sandwiches, coffee, and fresh-pressed juices. A location of Pancake Social was announced in 2018 to be opening at Town Centre at Trilith (formerly Pinewood Forest) in Fayetteville but that location failed to materialize.
As of December 10, the restaurant had just 91 reviews and an overall 3.9 star rating on Google, both surprisingly low given the restaurant's pedigree and time open, but also an indication of why it may be for sale. By comparison, Torchy's Tacos, a new to market brand with limited local awareness which opened at nearby Star Metals this past August, already has nearly 800 reviews with an overall 4.8 stars on Google.
The Pancake Social listing indicates that any would-be buyer could keep the cuisine the same with a re-brand or convert it to a completely new concept that the landlord approves. The name, trademarks, brand, and business are not included in the sale. The space includes inside seating for 75 plus patio seating for another 50.
Breakfast has become an increasingly competitive mealtime in the area, with several new concepts having opened in West Midtown in recent years. This sobering truth was made abundantly clear this week with news that West Egg Cafe, the OG in the West Midtown breakfast & brunch game, is closing December 29 after two decades in business.
$1 million was spent on "opening costs" of the 2,700 square foot Pancake Social space where monthly "all in" rent comes in at $10,000. The restaurant is signed to a ten year lease with two five year renewal options.
The restaurant, with "Full Staff in Place including Management Team," is priced at $450,000.
Are you surprised to see Pancake Social listed for sale? Do you think the concept is the problem, the location,.... or both? What are your thoughts on the Westside Paper project?
Please share your thoughts below.
12 comments:
If you don't have chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits, lamb chops, lobster mac and cheese, loud music, a flower Instagram wall, and hookah, your days of running a breakfast restaurant in Atlanta will be cut short.
That pancake social place was always a mess with regards to service, and food times. We've sat for an hour waiting on food where only half ever came out, while there were 2x as many wait staff as needed, and they're all just hanging around on their phones. Truly a wild experience.
1. This restaurant doesn't have bathrooms inside, they sent you outside and down the walkway to communal bathrooms shared by all the businesses. That's just weird for an exterior based complex. I get it for a PCM, Chat. Food Works, etc.
2. This complex appears to be cursed, nothing has survived more than a year. That's more damning to the property owner than the proprietors of now 4 failed concepts .
I hate to see another business close in Westside Paper. I have waited 30 years for services to come to the Westside and I had high hopes for the businesses that put their belief and support in this area.It is kind of dangerous and unwelcoming the way the entry is designed off of West Marietta Street. I hate that a huge data center got placed directly next to Westside Paper instead of houses that would have provided more customers. I think time will bring more residents as the Westside builds and develops. Evidently the density of residents is enough to support the services we all want. 🙂
I agree with the comments about the lackluster service at Pancake Social. The wait time after placing your order was consistently ridiculous. Service was always friendly, but inattentive.
However, I think the bigger reason for Westside Paper’s many restaurant closings is a failure of property management to properly market the businesses or fill the office space that would naturally generate foot traffic.
The restaurants are set so far back from the street that there needs to be major signage street side so people driving by know there are actual businesses there. If you don’t live in the area, you wouldn’t know that Westside Paper existed.
Pancake social is terrible. They’re a death curse. Now we all know wherever pancake social opens move on.
Cornball
Agree with above comment about marketing. The conversations I’ve had with some of the restaurants was the problem is the management itself. They’re running this complex into the ground with strange rules lack of support. Makes sense bc the location can’t be beat with free parking as well.
It’s unfortunate my wife and I love the concept and wanted to open up a high tech and modern dental office and were told by management they wanted a restaurants. We are still interested medical is a much safer investment then restaurants
yoo gottsta git duh rite “workers”!
People are tired of the typical disasters and hazards they create!
Oh, he’s Popeye! Now I get it.
FYI they are still open until sold. Don’t know if the article mentioned that. But the several articles published on this and different sites have hurt the business thinking it’s for sale and closed. It’s actually still open.
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