[ALERT] Wendy's Quietly Closed Three Restaurants Across Metro Atlanta

A Wendy's franchisee earlier this month closed a total of three restaurants in Georgia as part of the parent company's previously announced plan to close 140 "lower-volume restaurants" in "weaker markets."  

Wendy's revealed the plan, which is meant to strengthen the system’s overall health, during its third quarter earnings call this past October.  

The Georgia closures included locations in Acworth, Kennesaw, and Conley, just off Moreland Avenue and just outside the perimeter.  The shuttered restaurants reportedly had lower profit margins and generated $1.1 million or less in revenue per year, just over half the company average.

Clemson-based Calhoun Management Corporation, which continues to operate about 80 Wendy's restaurants throughout Georgia and North Carolina, closed the three units but is responsible for building three new locations in the years to come, according to a source familiar with the arrangement.  

In Acworth, the affected Wendy's was located at 6205 Highway 92 in an outparcel of the Kroger-anchored Cherokee Commons shopping center.  Property records suggest that the restaurant was built in 1986, was about 4,300 square feet, and sat on roughly a half acre.  

The Wendy's that closed in Kennesaw was located at 1905 Vaughn Road, just north of the intersection of Cobb Parkway and Barrett Parkway, and across from the Whole Foods Market-anchored Kennesaw Marketplace.  The Kennesaw restaurant opened in 1991 but received a heavy "image activation" remodel in 2013.  The restaurant measured about 3,500 square feet with the overall parcel about ninth tenths of an acre.  The Kennesaw closure comes on the heels of the recent closure of a McDonald's on Bells Ferry Road near Cobb Parkway, about two and a half miles south.   

In Conley, the shuttered Wendy's was located at 1380 Cedar Grove Road, not far off I-285, but closer still to a large landfill.  According to DeKalb County tax records, the Conley restaurant was built in 2000, was roughly 3,000 square feet, and sat on roughly .8 of an acre.  

These Wendy's closures follow the May closure of the Wendy's on Buford Highway in Brookhaven as well as that of another Wendy's on Nathan Dean Parkway in Rockmart earlier this year.  

Another unit that closed in recent days was one in Paris, Texas which according to reports, had just opened in 2022.  

We were unable to confirm replacement plans for any of the former Georgia Wendy's but were told that at least one bank has expressed interest in the former Kennesaw unit.  

In previous posts we have detailed the various businesses that now occupy various former Wendy's restaurants around metro Atlanta.  One that we missed was 4175 Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth where La Brasa Rustica Peruvian restaurant currently operates.  A source close to the burger chain tells ToNeTo Atlanta that in fact a local and longstanding Wendy's franchisee plans to reopen a Wendy's on the property this upcoming spring.  The building will not be demolished entirely, but it will undergo a significant facelift to the point where the new restaurant will look brand new, according to a source familiar with the plans.  

Despite the closures, the company continues to operate nearly 6,000 restaurants across the country.  Georgia and its nearly 300 Wendy's ranks fifth overall by unit count for the chain nationwide.  

Are you surprised to see Wendy's closing so many restaurants?  What would you like to see open in place of the now former Wendy's locations?  What fast food chain do you think makes the best burger? fries?

Please share your thoughts below.