Taco Mac closing original Virginia-Highland location, other closures
The Brief
Taco Mac has closed its original Virginia-Highland location after 46 years, marking a major milestone in the Atlanta-based brand's history.
The closure is part of a strategic expansion plan, with new locations opening across Georgia and Alabama, including recent additions in Conyers and Macon.
The space will be transitioned to Jack Brown's Beer & Burger Joint, while former Taco Mac employees have been offered positions at nearby locations.
ATLANTA - After serving wings, beer, and sports fans for more than four decades, Taco Mac has officially closed the doors of its original Virginia-Highland location.
What we know
The Atlanta-based chain, which began as a single neighborhood bar in 1979, announced Monday that the iconic corner of N. Highland and Virginia Avenue is transitioning to a new restaurant concept as the company focuses on future growth.
What they're saying
"We are incredibly proud of what began in Virginia-Highlands 46 years ago," said Taco Mac CEO Harold Martin. "As we continue to evolve and grow, a part of our hearts will always remain on the corner of N. Highland and Virginia."
The closure marks the end of an era for the flagship location that helped launch a brand now spanning 28 locations across the Southeast. Recent openings include restaurants in Macon and Conyers, Georgia, as well as Pelham, Alabama.
According to company leadership, the decision reflects a strategic shift to invest in new markets and elevate the Taco Mac experience for guests. Martin emphasized that the closure is not a farewell, but a milestone in the company's broader expansion plans. "This isn't the end of the story — it's a milestone in our journey," he said.
The Virginia-Highland space will soon be home to Jack Brown's Beer & Burger Joint. Team members affected by the closure have been offered roles at nearby Taco Mac locations. Meanwhile, fans of the brand are encouraged to visit other Atlanta-area restaurants to continue enjoying Taco Mac's signature wings, beer selection, and sports bar atmosphere.
What you can do
To celebrate its roots, Taco Mac plans to share guest memories and historic moments from the original location on social media. Customers are invited to post their own photos and stories using the hashtag #TacoMacBeginnings.
What we know
Jekyll Brewing closed all of its locations on May 11, according to Beer Street Journal. The announcement was made by owner and CEO Michael Lundmark.
Additionally, the taco restaurant Bartaco in West Midtown closed on May 5. A message on their website simply says "See you around!"
Previously announced closures
Junior's Pizza in Summerhill announces closing with 'great sadness' More info
Best End Brewing (White Street SW): Closing Jan. 1. No reason given for closure. More info.
Torched Hop Brewery (Ponce de Leon Avenue): Closing after New Year's Eve. No reason given for closure. More info.
West Egg Cafe (West Midtown): Closing on Dec. 29 after more than two decades in business. Cited decline in customers after COVID-19 pandemic. More info
Boho115 (Decatur): Closed on Oct. 21 after just over a year in business. No reason was given. More info
The Bookhouse Pub (Ponce de Leon): Announced closure in September, with a final date expected by January 31. More info
BoruBoru Sushi (Emory Point): Closed on Oct. 30 with no explanation provided. More info
CraveWell Cafe (Sandy Springs): Announced closure on Nov. 14 after six years in business, teasing a possible return in West Midtown. More info
Damsel: Atlanta's first cabaret restaurant closed suddenly in September, citing operational challenges. More info
Elsewhere Brewing: Both Grant Park and West Midtown locations closed on Oct. 28 due to a 40–50% drop in sales. More info
The General Muir (Sandy Springs): Closed in late September, citing pandemic-related challenges. More info
Georgetown Cupcake (Buckhead Village): Closed in late November. No explanation provided. More info
Java Jive (Ponce de Leon Avenue): Closing in December after 31 years. More info
Mi Barrio (Grant Park): Closed in August after 26 years, with owners citing retirement. More info
Original Pancake House (Cheshire Bridge Road): Quietly closed in August after 35 years, possibly due to the massive fire across the street that destroyed a retail and apartment building. More info
Pho Cue (Glenwood Park): Closed on Sept. 13 after three years. More info
The Ivy (Buckhead): Closing after 14 years, with its final day on New Year's Eve. More info
This Is It! (Panola Road): Closed due to Georgia Department of Transportation's traffic improvement plans.
Taylor'd Bar-B-Q (Avondale Estates): Closed in November due to significant sales declines caused by nearby construction. More info
Virgil's Gullah Kitchen and Bar (College Park): Destroyed by fire in October; owners vow to rebuild. More info
Wahlburgers (The Battery Atlanta): Closed on Nov. 3; Shake Shack is slated to replace it. More info
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Brookings Metro Unveils Dashboard To Help Cities Track And Close Gaps In Black Business Ownership
Brookings Metro's Center for Community Uplift recently revealed its new Black Business Parity Dashboard, a tool that it will use to help policymakers, organizers, and other community members to make the potential impact of Black residents entrepreneurship a reality through providing data that shows what those businesses would look like if they were equitably funded in proportion to their population share. According to Brookings, the tool examined Atlanta, which is seen as one of America's Black Meccas, and found that if the population share of Atlanta was matched by Black businesses, its 14,000 Black-owned businesses would become 63,000 Black-owned businesses, a dramatic increase. Similarly, in Detroit, where there are almost 2,800 Black-owned businesses, if that number was adjusted along the lines of Detroit's Black population share, it would result in more than 23,000 Black-owned firms which would create approximately 460,000 jobs for Detroit's metro area, which could contribute to the city's economic recovery from decades of job and population losses. The tool helps prove what a group of researchers asserted in their 2021 analysis of a deadly precondition for Black businesses for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, the racial wealth divide, which also affects how Black businesses are invested in and discouraged from scaling up because they don't have the capital necessary to expand their footprints. According to the analysis from Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Dr. Jared Ball, Jamie Buell, and Joshua Devine, 'To produce more personal and community wealth from Black entrepreneurship, public and private sector spending should be intentionally channeled to Black-owned businesses.' Although the findings of their research focus on the pandemic, their findings dovetail with the stated aims of the Black Business Parity Dashboard, which are to give city and community leaders the tools to visualize what a greater and more targeted investment in Black-owned businesses could produce in their metro areas. Indeed, according to a 2024 analysis of the economic impact of Black-owned small businesses by The Reynolds Center for Business Journalism, per data from the 2021 Census; 161,031 Black-owned businesses produced $206 billion in revenue, which suggests that if these businesses were quadrupled, which some of the models in the dashboard say would be the case, that revenue number could become even more impressive. As Brookings advised in 2020, the key to unlocking the American economy lies in increasing investments in Black-owned businesses, as they noted, 'the underrepresentation of Black businesses is costing the U.S. economy millions of jobs and billions of dollars in unrealized revenues,' but their prescription for solving that problem then, as the Dashboard makes clear now, is to create parity for the nation's Black-owned businesses. According to Ashleigh Gardere, senior advisor to the president at PolicyLink, solutions for how to address the racial wealth gap can also be applied to Black-owned businesses. 'DBE programs and small business training will never be enough to close the racial wealth gap in America—that's just tinkering at the edges. We need racial equity standards in the private sector: from greater access to capital beyond traditional debt to new and reparative financial products, from private sector business opportunities to narrative change strategies that center and celebrate Black businesses.' RELATED CONTENT: OPINION: Tariffs Are Squeezing Black-Owned Businesses—Here's How We Fix It
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
SOLVE FSHD and Modalis Announce Strategic Collaboration to Develop an Innovative CRISPR-Based Epigenome Editing Treatment for Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy
VANCOUVER, British Columbia & TOKYO & WALTHAM, Mass., June 08, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SOLVE FSHD, a venture philanthropy organization dedicated to accelerating treatments for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), and Modalis Therapeutics Corporation (TSE 4883; "Modalis"), a CRISPR-based epigenome editing therapeutics company focused on rare genetic diseases, today announced a strategic collaboration to develop an innovative therapy for FSHD, a debilitating muscular disorder affecting approximately 1 million individuals worldwide. The novel therapy leverages Modalis's proprietary CRISPR-GNDM® (Guide Nucleotide-Directed Modulation) technology, which can dynamically modulate gene expression without introducing double-strand DNA breaks. SOLVE FSHD will provide strategic funding to support the development of Modalis's MDL-103 program. MDL-103 is an innovative therapeutic solution that continuously suppresses the expression of the DUX4 gene, the toxic disease-causing gene for FSHD, which becomes abnormally activated due to epigenetic changes in the D4Z4 repeat region on chromosome 4. MDL-103 is designed to have durable activity over long periods of time under the control of a strong, muscle-specific promoter, and is delivered to the muscles of patients using a muscle-tropic AAV delivery system. Modalis's CRISPR-GNDM® technology has the potential to transform the treatment of FSHD by epigenetically silencing the expression of DUX4. "SOLVE FSHD is pleased to partner with Modalis and to add them to our diverse portfolio of collaborators that are advancing potential therapies for FSHD," stated Eva Chin, Executive Director of SOLVE FSHD. "SOLVE FSHD identified Modalis as a company committed to finding a cure for this debilitating condition. We were impressed by their unique approach to targeting the epigenetic cause of FSHD, using a platform technology that has shown promise in other neuromuscular diseases. We believe that the support from SOLVE FSHD will allow Modalis to accelerate the advancement of MDL-103 into clinical trials." "We are delighted to be working in partnership with SOLVE FSHD and greatly appreciate the invaluable support for the development of MDL-103," said Haru Morita, CEO of Modalis. "This strategic collaboration is a strong validation of Modalis's CRISPR-GNDM® technology and our MDL-103 program. As a pioneer in this technology, we have demonstrated promising long-term drug efficacy in mouse models, shown durable target engagement and safety in non-human primates, and exhibited excellent biodistribution in neuromuscular disorders. We believe that MDL-103, which incorporates CRISPR-GNDM® technology with a muscle tropic AAV delivery system, has significant potential as a breakthrough treatment for FSHD." About SOLVE FSHD SOLVE FSHD is a venture philanthropic organization established to catalyze innovation and accelerate key research in finding a cure for FSHD. Established by renowned Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist, Chip Wilson, the Wilson family has committed $100 million to kick-start funding into projects that support the organizations' mission to solve FSHD by 2027. The goal of SOLVE FSHD is to find a solution that can slow down or stop muscle degeneration, increase muscle regeneration and strength, and improve the quality of life for those living with FSHD, visit About Modalis Therapeutics Corporation Modalis was founded in 2016 and conducts research and development activities in Massachusetts, USA. Modalis is a pioneering leader in the field of epigenetic medicine. Modalis develops therapeutics for patients suffering from serious genetic disorders such as neuromuscular diseases, CNS diseases, and cardiomyopathies. Modalis's proprietary CRISPR-GNDM® technology is capable of specifically up or down modulating the expression of disease-relevant genes without introducing double-strand DNA breaks. For more information, visit View source version on Contacts SOLVE FSHDAlexandra Grant, House of Wilsonalexandrag@ Modalis Therapeutics CorporationCorporate Planning Departmentmedia@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Evri to hire thousands more couriers after deal with DHL
Evri is set to expand its courier network with a recruitment drive for 5,000 new couriers, as the company looks to compete in the business letter market. The Yorkshire-based parcel firm recently announced a collaboration with DHL's UK ecommerce division, creating one of the UK's largest delivery networks. The addition of these new roles will bring Evri's total number of self-employed couriers to 33,000. These positions will be available across the UK, with a focus on areas such as Plymouth, Bury, Hastings, Dover, and Scarborough. Approximately 1,000 of the new jobs will be permanent, while the remainder will be flexible roles designed to accommodate the increased demand during the summer and other peak delivery periods. Couriers who commit to working five or more days a week, including Saturday and Sunday, are also given the chance to opt in to its revamped 'Evri Plus' scheme, which includes paid holiday and automatic enrolment into a pension scheme. Evri, which was previously part of the Hermes parcel group, was bought by US private equity firm Apollo for around £2.7 billion last year. It announced plans last month to merge with rival DHL's UK ecommerce business to create a combined company set to deliver more than one billion parcels and one billion letters each year. The deal means Evri will enter the UK business letter market for the first time, bolstering its competition to Royal Mail. Evri has spent £32 million on improving its customer service offering and has seen an improvement in its ratings over recent years, but has said there is 'more to do' to improve with customers continuing to report delivery issues. Chief executive Martijn de Lange said: 'We know that service, reliability and quality are critical factors for our clients and consumers, and so by expanding our self-employed network further, we remain focused on delivering in each of those areas.' Couriers typically earn about £20.90 an hour on average, according to Evri. Sign in to access your portfolio
