A new franchise is preparing to make its metro Atlanta debut. Sully's Steamers, a steamed bagel sandwich eatery which currently has two locations open in Georgia, now has three more in the hopper, with staggered openings this coming spring and summer.
Preliminary work recently started on the space with the hope that it can be open later this summer. The 2,242 square foot space was most recently home to a Beyoutiful Wandz, a beauty supply store that relocated earlier this year to 43 Park Street.
The Marietta franchise is being opened by the husband and wife team of Tommy and Lauren Balas.
Robert "Sully" Sullivan opened the first Sully's Steamers in downtown Greenville, South Carolina in March 2013 and opened a second location in Clemson in February 2020. The brand began franchising in 2021 and has since grown to thirteen locations, the majority of which are in North and South Carolina.
Sully's Steamers entered the Georgia market last February when it opened a franchise in Statesboro not far from the campus of Georgia Southern University. A second Georgia location opened this past December in Gainesville.
Most Sully's restaurants are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with those near college campuses typically open for late-night dining on Fridays and Saturdays, too.
The restaurant serves more than thirty bagel sandwiches with nearly endless customization options. ToNeTo Atlanta visited the original Greenville location in 2021 at which time we were told that Atlanta-based Masada Bakery was supplying the restaurant's bagels. Today, Sully's gets their bagels from Just Bagels from The Bronx, a New York bagel shop that provides authentic New York bagels for the public and the food-service industry. Just Bagels reportedly created a custom bagel for Sully's to use in their restaurants. The New York bakery produces a fresh-frozen bagel for Sully's that creates efficiency and ensures consistency as the brand grows. Sully's partnered with Greenville's West End Coffee as its coffee purveyor.
The restaurant typically offers one Limited Time Offer (LTO) per quarter and occasionally does store-specific specials. Sully's indicated in 2023 that it planned to have at least 50 locations open before the end of the decade. Sully's Steamers is actively seeking owner/operator franchisees to help grow throughout the southeast.
In Evans, Sully's is opening at 810 Ronald Reagan Drive as part of "The Premiere," a large mixed-use development. The downtown Athens location is coming to 255 E. Clayton Street, previously home to On the Rocks, a local bar. The Evans restaurant is expected to open in April, followed by Athens in May, according to Josh Riley, Chief Operating Officer at Sully's Steamers.
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