[CLOSURE ALERT] Impossible Burger Not Enough to Keep The Counter Viable

The Counter Custom Burgers in Roswell is closing after business tonight.  The 2,800 square foot restaurant, located on Mansell Road near its intersection with Alpharetta Highway, opened in 2008 in a former SouthTrust Bank branch.    

The Counter was one of only three restaurants in metro Atlanta to carry the "Impossible Burger" from Impossible Foods.  The Impossible Burger is a meat alternative burger made from wheat, coconut oil, potatoes and heme. Other Atlanta restaurants that carry the Impossible Burger are Grindhouse Killer Burgers (Decatur, Piedmont Heights, Hartsfield-Jackson and Athens) and ARGOSY in East Atlanta Village.  

While offering the Impossible Burger, which debuted this past fall, was one way to differentiate The Counter from other quick serve burger restaurants, it seems that it was not enough to keep the business going.  

When brothers Don and Scott Harris opened the Roswell franchise, they had plans to open at least nine other restaurants in Atlanta and subsequently in Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg, Florida. Despite owning six Panera Bread restaurants and seven Wendy's franchises, their planned expansion of The Counter concept never materialized.   

Culver City, California-based The Counter was started in 2003 and began franchising in 2005.  As of 2008, The Counter had sold development rights for over 125 restaurants.  Long-range projections as of 2008 called for as many as 400 to 600 U.S. locations.  According to The Counter website, the chain operates 30 locations domestically, 21 of which are in its home state.  There are about nine other locations internationally in such as places as Ireland, Japan, Scotland, Ghana, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.  A tenth location is planned for Madrid, Spain later this year. 

Early last year, The Counter closed two locations in south Florida, one at The Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens, the other in Aventura Mall near Miami.  Both locations were less than three years old.  

Are you surprised that The Counter is closing?  Have you tried the Impossible Burger?  What would you like to see open in place of The Counter?

Please share your thoughts below