It is with great amazement that we report that SocialBites Food Hub has now closed its second and hopefully final Atlanta area location. The "Food Hub," located along Highway 92 in Woodstock, first opened with two concepts in January 2023, before later adding two more concepts, and celebrating its "grand opening" as SocialBites this past July.
Located at 180 Parkway 575 across from the Goodwill thrift store, SocialBites Food Hub was home to four separate concepts that all shared a communal kitchen and a common owner: NRD Capital. Ownership called the operation a "groundbreaking dining destination" when they promoted its opening last summer.
Formerly home to Folks Southern Kitchen, the space later became The Captain's Boil, also owned by NRD Capital, an Atlanta-based private equity firm, but they quickly pulled the plug and went in a different direction.
Related: NRD, which also owns Altitude Trampoline Park and newly launched sibling brand The Pickle Pad, recently announced plans to bring the new pickleball franchise to a former Walmart Neighborhood Market (3101 Roswell Road) in East Cobb.
SocialBites was made up for boring and soulless concepts: The Original Hot Chicken, INKED Tacos, Pinsa Roman Pizza, and Flametown Burgers, a Guy Fieri-like overpriced burger joint that surprisingly offered not even one meat alternative burger.
All four concepts - collectively "Experiential Brands" - were newly launched without the benefit of any brand awareness in the market. And let's be real: there is a serious burger, pizza, hot chicken, and taco deficit in metro Atlanta.
According to the Experiential Brands website: "Experiential Brands is a portfolio of quick service and fast casual restaurant brands designed to deliver rapid returns on invested capital for franchisees."
The Woodstock location was to receive the formal SocialBites branding last summer, but never did. Instead, after the Sandy Springs closure in May, it received the gently used decor and branding from the Roswell Road location.
While a shameful amount of serviceable furniture and equipment was simply thrown in a dumpster rather than used, sold, or donated at the Sandy Springs restaurant, social media advertising indicates that the majority of FF&E (furniture, fixtures & equipment) from Woodstock will be sold at auction.
Aziz Hashim, NRD's founder and Managing Partner, called SocialBites "truly unlike anything the restaurant industry has seen before, an entirely new category in the space," in an interview last August with FastCasual.com. The trade publication was one of several local and national outlets to hype the half-baked business. [ToNeTo Atlanta provided a frank assessment of the business last June.]
We visited both the Woodstock and Sandy Springs locations, and while the Woodstock unit was moderately busy on the day we visited, it's also in Woodstock. The Sandy Springs location was frequently empty at prime meal times, according to several ToNeTo Atlanta readers who live in the area.
The company was reportedly scouting Ohio for a third location followed by a fourth in Atlanta that was to have opened late last fall. Its franchise disclosure document (FDD) was described as being "in the works" last summer with a franchise program for SocialBites expected to launch "in 2025."
With luck, neither Atlantans nor any other community will ever be subjected to the disappointment and mediocrity that was SocialBites.
Did you ever dine at Social Bites? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment of the business? What would you like to see open in place of SocialBites in Sandy Springs or Woodstock?
Please share your thoughts below.
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