Chicken chain plots continued expansion.
On the heels of five openings in metro Atlanta in 2015, Miami, Florida based Pollo Tropical already has a number of new locations planned in Georgia this year.
New Pollo Tropical restaurants are planned for Newnan, Gainesville, McDonough, Marietta, Hiram and Tucker, while leases are being finalized for a handful of other locations.
A previously announced Dunwoody location has been indefinitely postponed due to issues gettings plans approved by the city.
In Hiram, Pollo Tropical will open in place of a former Movie Stop location at 4525 Jimmy Lee Smith Parkway. The movie store was demolished for the construction of the new restaurant.
In Gainesville, a new freestanding Pollo Tropical will be built on vacant land at 1198 Dawsonville Highway.
In Newnan, Pollo Tropical will open at 580 Bullsboro Drive. An existing commercial building will be demolished to make way for the new restaurant.
In McDonough, a new Pollo Tropical will be built at the northwest corner of State Route 81 & State Route 20 (Hampton Road). The property was previously a vacant outparcel of the popular South Point shopping center.
According to my contact at Pollo Tropical's public relations firm, the locations in Hiram and Marietta are expected to open first, in the second quarter, followed by Tucker, Gainesville, McDonough and Newnan, in the third quarter of the year.
There are currently eleven Pollo Tropical restaurants in Georgia, with the most recent opening having occurred in Snellville on Scenic Highway. The chain re-entered the Atlanta market in 2011 under corporate ownership and direction having opened (and later closed) a few franchised locations in the 90s.
The new locations opening this year will all sport variations of the chain's new "Big Blue" Caribbean-style building. The new style debuted locally at the opening of Pollo Tropical Johns Creek last year.
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