[ALERT] Casual Dining Chain to Shutter Nearly All of Its Restaurants Including Three in Georgia

O'Charley's Restaurant & Bar will close all of its corporately owned restaurants, representing the majority of its remaining units, tonight.  The company has made no official statement, but local outlets, a national trade publication, and calls we placed to individual restaurants confirm the impending news.  

The closures come after years of struggles (and closures) for the once thriving casual dining chain.  The first O'Charley's opened across from Nashville's Vanderbilt University in 1971. At its peak, there were about 300 restaurants spread across about twenty states.  In recent years, however, the chain has closed dozens of restaurants and as of today, had just 44 units across twelve states, according to its website.

The company's home market of Tennessee was still its largest by unit count with fourteen restaurants, at least eight of which are confirmed to be closing tonight.  

In Georgia, locations closed earlier this year in Austell and Centerville, leaving just three units: Canton, Fort Oglethorpe, and Stockbridge open.  ToNeTo Atlanta has confirmed that the Fort Oglethorpe unit has already closed with Canton and Stockbridge due to close tonight.     

An employee at a franchised O’Charley’s location in Niles, Ohio confirmed to Nation’s Restaurant News that the restaurant will stay open “as long as possible” and will likely close permanently between September 27 and October 4. An employee at another franchised location in Chester, Virginia, said that the restaurant does not have an official closing date, while in Panama City, an employee at the lone remaining Florida O'Charley's said she'd been hearing these "rumors" for twenty years and that her store is not closing.  

Interestingly, in our calls to several O'Charley's we were met with a recording that states in part: "Amazing things are happening here and we're looking for more great people to join our team." 

Overall, Georgia has seen the closure of more than two dozen O'Charley's restaurants. An O'Charley's that closed in Hiram last year has reportedly been leased to a national restaurant operator.  Elsewhere around the state, local and regional restaurants have backfilled some O'Charley's restaurants, but growing chains such as Whataburger and Raising Cane's have been especially active in backfilling sites, with each brand having taken over a pair of former O'Charley's properties in Georgia.    

The very first Whataburger in metro Atlanta opened on the site of a former O'Charley's at 705 Townpark Lane in Kennesaw in November 2022.  Another Whataburger opened at the end of 2025 on the site of the former O'Charley's at 3550 Sandy Plains Road in East Cobb.  For its part, Raising Cane's opened a new restaurant in March 2025 at 1842 Jonesboro Road in McDonough, where an O'Charley's restaurant previously closed.  The growing chicken chain also replaced a former O'Charley's restaurant at 920 Buford Road in Cumming.    

Several former O'Charley's remain vacant but many others have been converted into other casual dining restaurants including those in Carrollton and Rome (Buffalo Wild Wings), Snellville (Hook & Reel Cajun Seafood & Bar), Lawrenceville  (KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot), Woodstock (Rally Point Grille), Tucker (Bambinelli's Pizza & Pasta), Douglasville (Chick-fil-A) and Gainesville (Dynamite Sushi Steak Grill Bar).  A former location in Newnan could soon become a new Bank of America, according to The City Menus. The chain has also closed Georgia locations in Conyers, Macon, Villa Rica, Dalton, Acworth, and Griffin. 

Are you surprised to see O'Charley's close nearly all their location?  What is your favorite casual dining chain?  What would you most like to see open in place of your local O'Charley's?  

Please share your thoughts below.