Del Taco has closed its short-lived restaurant along Buford Drive in Buford. The restaurant, located at 3385 Buford Drive, in front of Sam's Club, opened in early 2020 and reportedly closed in recent days, according to a ToNeTo Atlanta reader in the area. The Buford outpost was one of several in metro Atlanta that were converted former Pollo Tropical restaurants.
The former East Cobb location later reopened as a Five Guys, whereas the former Roswell outpost recently debuted as 12 Lunar Eatery, a new sit-down Chinese restaurant. The Milton and Loganville restaurants remain vacant.
As for the now vacant Buford restaurant, there are no obvious replacement candidates, with Raising Cane's and Whataburger, both of whom would likely have been interested, having each already opened new restaurants along Buford Drive. ToNeTo Atlantareported September 14 that both Chick-fil-A and Starbucks are planning additional locations in Buford but both are further down Buford Drive closer to 985 and further from existing locations near the Mall of Georgia.
Fellow quick-serve restaurant Jack in the Box purchased Del Taco in late 2021. The acquisition, worth a reported $585 million, closed in March 2022. According to the Del Taco website, there are currently 596 Del Taco restaurants across the country.
Following the closures, the company continues to operate twenty-three restaurants across the state including franchises in Snellville, Tucker, Douglasville, Lawrenceville, Woodstock and pairs of restaurants in Kennesaw and Smyrna.
Overall, Del Taco seems to perform best in rural and far OTP communities. According to a 2021 article from the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the Del Taco in Fort Oglethorpe, close to Chattanooga, was as of then "the most visited Del Taco location in the state of Georgia."
Are you surprised to see Del Taco close in Buford? What is your favorite Mexican-ish fast food eatery? What would you like to see replace Del Taco in Buford?
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