Allegedly Media

I interviewed Pamela Sharpe, the Chief Owner and Operator of the Brands Mad Dad’s Philly Cheesesteaks and Stackhouse Burgers in Atlanta, Georgia. The idea of Mad Dad’s Philly Cheesesteaks was inspired by her husband, Chef Tony Sharpe, who is from Philadelphia, a die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan, who couldn’t find that authentic texture and taste of a Philly cheesesteak sandwich in the Atlanta area, so they decided to launch there own.

The search for commercial real estate began once the logistics of the business idea came to fruition. Atlanta has been known in the past years as the best place for mom-and-pop restaurants. Over the past 10 years, a lot of restaurants have closed down. The city is filled with a number of empty commercial real estate properties. With the rise of social media, their has been a number of creative ways that chefs and previous restaurant owners promote their food services, such as cooking from home and having drop-off or pick-up services, meal prep kits for clients.

In the last five years, they have created food halls and cloud kitchens. Cloud kitchens and food halls appeal to food businesses largely for financial reasons. Cloud kitchens eliminate the high costs of traditional restaurants—like large dining spaces, décor, and front-of-house staff—allowing owners to operate with lower overhead and less financial risk. This makes it easier to launch new concepts, test menus, and scale through delivery apps. Food halls also reduce startup expenses by offering shared spaces, utilities, and foot traffic, which lowers rent and marketing costs for individual vendors. For many entrepreneurs, these models provide a more affordable and flexible path into the food industry while increasing the potential for profit. Mrs, Sharpe explained how the very first operation was in a cloud kitchen and from there the food halls, the first location is now closed and she now have 4 active restaurants in 3 food halls in the Atlanta area, she is now exploring the idea of a independent space, but for now she is watching the commercial real estate market to see if the cost to lease or own will drop soon.

https://www.ajc.com/food-and-dining/

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/state/tennessee/davidson-county/

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/crains-forum-policy-pressures-chicago-restaurants/