[EXCLUSIVE] Big Bad Bummer: Breakfast Spot Bounces After Just Nine Months

Big Bad Breakfast (BBB), a chain growing across the southeast, has closed its first and only location in Georgia.    The Atlanta Big Bad Breakfast opened November 4, 2025 and closed as of the close of normal business on July 15.  The chain did not provide a reason for the closure, but confirmed it in an Instagram post Wednesday evening.  

Located at 1952 Howell Mill Road #200, the roughly 3,700 square foot restaurant space is situated on the Bell Collier Village campus, across from Howell's Kitchen & Bar.  

When Big Bad Breakfast opened, it replaced Cultivate Food & Coffee, which closed in December 2024 after about five years in business.  ToNeTo Atlanta exclusively reported this past September that Cultivate was planning to open in the former Snooze restaurant space along Howell Mill, something it will reportedly finally do later this month.  

James Beard award-winning chef John Currence opened the first BBB in Oxford, Mississippi in 2008.  A second location came to Birmingham in 2013.  Through a partnership with Nashville-based Fresh Hospitality, Currence has expanded the brand to 29 28 locations across nine eight states, with sixteen between the group's top markets of Tennessee and Alabama.     

Currence drew on his New Orleans upbringing with a menu that features assorted Cajun staples like Shrimp N Grits, a Shrimp Poboy, an Oyster Poboy, and a "Low Country Skillet" with two eggs scrambled, shrimp, andouille, cheddar cheese, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and potatoes.  

The restaurant's closure Wednesday means it was in business for less than nine months!  Fellow new-to-market restaurant Torchy's Tacos closed this past February at the trendy West Midtown Star Metals project after about seventeen months in business.  Wagamamma, another first to market restaurant, closed in January 2024, also at Star Metals, and also after less than two years in business.  

The past two years have been especially challenging for West Midtown/Howell Mill area operators.  In addition to the aforementioned closures of Cultivate, Snooze, Wagamamma, and Torchy's Tacos, West Egg Cafe, long a bastion of the community, also closed.      

Culinary Dropout, Postino, Humble Pie, Pour Taproom, and Knuckies Hoagies, Le Fat, Slim+Husky, L.O.A. Social Club, Superica, Damsel, and Boxcar Betty's also closed in West Midtown since the beginning of 2024.   

More recent closures include Zunzi's this past November and Guac y Margys this past June.  Pretty Hens opened earlier this month in place of Zunzi's while the former Guac y Margys, and several other restaurant spaces in West Midtown remain vacant and available.  

Despite the closures, several breakfast options remain along or close to Howell Mill Road, including Waffle House, Maple Street Biscuit Company, Thumbs Up Diner, and Flying Biscuit Cafe in Howell Mill Village.  

Did you ever go to Big Bad Breakfast?  Why do you think Big Bad Breakfast failed to find success on Howell Mill Road? What is your favorite breakfast spot in Atlanta?     

Please share your thoughts below.