Jason's Deli has permanently closed its restaurant in East Cobb. The restaurant, located in the Target-anchored Merchants Festival shopping center, opened in late 2018. A combination of lower than expected sales since opening and the affects of the COVID-19 pandemic reportedly caused first a temporary closure, but now the permanent closure of the 6,900 square foot restaurant at 1401 Johnson Ferry Road, near its intersection with Roswell Road.
The closure of the East Cobb Jason's Deli is at least the second known permanent closure in metro Atlanta for the Beaumont, Texas-based company. ToNeTo Atlanta reported August 8 that Jason's Deli had permanently closed its restaurant on Medlock Bridge Road in Johns Creek. At the time, the East Cobb restaurant as well as the Jason's in Cumberland Mall, were both listed on the company website as "temporarily closed." The Cumberland Mall location still indicates it is temporarily closed, while the East Cobb location has been removed from the website entirely.
Jason's Deli is the second national chain restaurant to close near the intersection of Johnson Ferry and Roswell Roads in just the past sixty days. California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) closed their restaurant in the Trader Joe's-anchored Pine Straw Place shopping center June 30 after about thirteen years in business.
A siteplan for Merchants Festival was updated last week by Coleman Morris of JLL who is handling leasing of the center. Interestingly, despite its recent update, Jason's Deli is still shown as a tenant, which could indicate that like Black Swan before it, there are legal issues preventing the removal of the restaurant and acceptance of their likely early lease termination.
When Jason's Deli East Cobb opened, it did so in a space that had for a short time been home to an outpost of locally owned, now bankrupt, Sage Social Kitchen & Bar. Before Sage, the space was also for a short time home to a "relocated"Chequers Seafood + Steak which had replaced longtime tenant and sibling concept Houlihan's.
Sixteen other Jason's Deli locations in Georgia remain open including metro Atlanta outposts in Buckhead, Alpharetta, Decatur, Tucker, Midtown, Kennesaw and Peachtree Corners, among others.
Are you surprised that Jason's Deli closed in East Cobb? What is your favorite East Cobb area restaurant? What would you like to see open in place of Black Swan Tavern and Jason's Deli in East Cobb?
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