A Gwinnett County TGI Fridays will soon close to make way for a new Whataburger! The Friday's, located at 1695 Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth, is expected to close in the not too distant future, according to a source with knowledge of the transaction. Whataburger is slated to scrape the property and build their latest restaurant on the 1.6 acre parcel.
Dimension Pleasant Hill Venture LLC, an affiliate of Atlanta-based commercial real estate firm The Trilogy Group, paid $1.95 million for the property in September 2021.
As Americans' tastes and preferences have changed, TGI Friday's has struggled to keep up and has over the years closed several Atlanta area restaurants. The chain has in years past shuttered Atlanta area restaurants in Buckhead, Doraville, Buford and on Powers Ferry Road near the Wildwood Office Park, among others. Earlier this year a Friday's on Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw closed to be converted into a new First Watch restaurant.
Whataburger entered the metro Atlanta market in November 2022 with a restaurant in Kennesaw. In the months since, the San Antonio-based chain has opened additional restaurants in Woodstock, Cumming, Buford, and most recently in Newnan.
Additional Whataburger restaurants are either under construction or planned for Covington, Athens, Snellville, Dawsonville, Roswell and Monroe. Two more restaurants are planned for Kennesaw and Atlanta where they, like the new unit in Newnan, will replace onetime Pollo Tropical restaurants that had more recently operated as units of Joella's Hot Chicken.
In addition to the Pleasant Hill restaurant in Duluth and those mentioned above, ToNeTo Atlanta has confirmed two additional upcoming Whataburger restaurants.
One, planned for 1888 Grayson Highway in the City of Grayson in Gwinnett County, will be one of several outparcel businesses to open in front of the new Clark Lake Village single family home development. A Starbucks recently opened, and in addition to Whataburger, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Panda Express are opening, as well as a Chase bank branch.
The second is planned for 254 Riley Road in Dahlonega. The new Whataburger will be built on vacant land across Riley Road from the Lumpkin County Justice Center.
The chain has Texas-sized aspirations of having 50 new Whataburger restaurants open in Georgia by 2030.
Have you tried Whataburger at one of their existing Atlanta area restaurants? Do think Whataburger is better than other fast food burger joints? Where else in metro Atlanta would you like to see Whataburger open?
Please share your thoughts below.