Augusta Exchange anchor O’Charley’s has shuttered as the American comfort food chain struggles to keep up with the times.
Augusta fans of the casual dining chain, which first opened across the street from Nashville’s Vanderbilt University in 1971, will now have to travel to Aiken for its chicken tenders and fried pickles.
The eatery that operates across the Southeast and Midwest didn’t offer an explanation for the sudden closure, and the company’s communications officer didn’t return a request for comment.
The number listed for the Robert C. Daniel Jr. Parkway location was disconnected as of Monday afternoon.
A job posting from March 29 shows that the restaurant was looking for a general manager. It was also looking for servers and a specialist for to-go meals.
This is the latest in a string of closures for O’Charley’s, which is down to 133 restaurants, including 18 in Georgia and seven in South Carolina. That’s about a 34% decrease from 2018 when it had 201 locations.
O’Charley’s is part of Cannae Holdings, which said its “restaurant group” segment revenue decreased by 10.5% in 2022 primarily due to the closure and sales of underperforming O’Charley’s locations, as well as the sale of other brand restaurants, according to its 2022 annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
For 2022, comparable store sales for O’Charley’s locations decreased by nearly 6% compared to 2021, according to the report. This was primarily due to a decrease in guests partly offset by an increase in the average amount spent per visit.
