Tin Drum shutters suburban location.
Atlanta-based Tin Drum Asiacafe has closed its Kennesaw location. The restaurant, which opened in Barrett Creek Plaza shopping center on Ernest Barrett Parkway in late 2012, closed a few days ago. The franchised location was opened by Asad Mazahir, who also owned the Tin Drum on Broad and Peachtree Streets by Georgia State, which closed last year. (I've been thus far unable to determine if Mazahir was the current owner of the Kennesaw location.)
I wrote about the Kennesaw location ahead of its opening and foreshadowed trouble for the restaurant. The restaurant had an inferior location with limited street visibility and was neither super close to Kennesaw State University or Town Center at Cobb.
Tin Drum locations have previously closed in Emory Village, Buckhead and Birmingham, Alabama.
According to Tin Drum's website, the company currently has eleven restaurants in Georgia and one in Oldsmar, Florida.
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| The original Tin Drum logo Tin Drum Asiacafé opened its first location near Georgia Tech in 2003. Founded by entrepreneur Steven Chan, the restaurant proved popular and Chan expanded the concept to a few additional locations. A well situated, corner location in Sembler's Perimeter Place opened in 2006, followed by another at Sembler's redeveloped Lindbergh Plaza, also in 2006. During the summer of 2008, the downtown location near Georgia State opened. Chan began franchising Tin Drum in 2011. In September 2012, Atlanta-based BIP Opportunities Fund, LP took a minority stake in Tin Drum to "provide the necessary capital to fuel the emerging brand’s expansion strategy." After the investment, Chan said he planned to "double the company’s corporate and franchise unit base (then 10 units) by the end of 2012." Many former customers, myself included, point to menu changes, price increases and the discontinuing of certain items as reasons why they no longer patronize the restaurant. I'm hopeful that the chain can regain its positive momentum, but clearly work is needed to achieve that. What are your thoughts on the Tin Drum chain? Do you think they have lost their way? Tin Drum, Doc Chey's, or Noodle, what is your favorite local noodle-centric restaurant? Please share your thoughts below |