About fifteen months after its Buckhead opening, trendy plant-based restaurant PLANTA Queen has closed. The restaurant, located in Buckhead Village District (3013 Bolling Way), debuted December 26, 2023, but was listed for sale early this past December after less than a year in operation.
The sales listing from broker Steve Josovitz indicates that a management and culinary team is "in place," but that is unlikely still true given that the restaurant closed "about two weeks ago" according to sources in the area.
We here at ToNeTo Atlanta have adopted a largely plant-based diet and found our visits to PLANTA Queen enjoyable, but we often noticed that the restaurant was less full than one might expect. The space was not a converted former restaurant but was instead freshly built out for PLANTA Queen, with a modern, chic interior. Situated behind Le Bilboquet, the restaurant likely suffered from limited visibility in addition to not being near the "action" of the center.
The sales listing indicates that the owners of PLANTA Queen spent $3.3 million on "opening costs" related to the "state-of-the-art space." The restaurant totals 4,000 square feet with seating for 100 guests plus some outdoor seating, too.
Founder and CEO Steven Salm and Co-founder and Executive Chef David Lee created PLANTA in 2016. In the years since, the duo has expanded the brand to more than a dozen restaurants and multiple concepts spread across New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto, and DMV (D.C., Maryland & Virginia). Following the Buckhead closure, five PLANTA Queen restaurants remain open: New York, Florida (2), Toronto, and Washington D.C.
Would-be Buckhead replacements are invited to keep the cuisine the same or convert it to any landlord [Jamestown] approved concept. PLANTA Queen is signed to a ten-year lease with a five-year renewal option. Monthly "all-in" rent comes in at a breathtaking $18,000. The restaurant was offered in December for $550,000 but has since been reduced to $350,000.
Although Buckhead is now without a plant-based restaurant, metro Atlanta still has plenty of great options including the aforementioned PLANTA as well as Mamak Vegan Kitchen (2390 Chamblee Tucker Road) in Chamblee, La Semilla (780 Memorial Drive) in Reynoldstown, and RHW Retail & Vegan Cafe (371 Boulevard) in Grant Park.
Did you ever dine at PLANTA Queen? What is your favorite plant-based restaurant in Atlanta? What would you most like to see open in place of PLANTA Queen in Buckhead?
Please share your thoughts below.
9 comments:
I thought it was a place that sold plants 🤷
Can't wait for the one in Krog to close too. It's not good, and also, I hope it makes Asana rethink their business plan of running out local proprietors in favor of national brands that no one likes.
Even a blind man could see this coming. The only surprising thing about this news is how they stayed open that long. I bet they had some days in which total sales never topped $500.
I think the problem is the concept caters to such a small percentage of the population, it's basically impossible to succeed. Approximately 4% of the US population is vegan (according to a Google search), meaning they are bypassing 96% of diners.
4% sounds like an inflated figure.
Sounds like you were a regular customer. Did you eat there multiple times a week? I’m guessing you did since you are “betting.”
@anonymous - you are correct. The 4% figure is for vegetarian. Vegan is stated at 1%. I mistated up above.
Nobody needed to visit there to know it would fail.
It would have been a helluva lot more successful if it had.
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