Key points:
- Birmingham, Alabama-based Pihakis Restaurant Group (PRG) faces $13.7 million in lawsuits and liens.
- Twelve PRG restaurants have closed across four states, including three restaurants in metro Atlanta.
- Google and the group’s website currently list the Atlanta locations of Hero Diner in Summerhill and Fayetteville and Psito in Summerhill as “temporarily closed.”
Birmingham-based Pihakis Restaurant Group (PRG), which includes restaurants in Atlanta, faces $13.7 million in lawsuits and liens, according to a report by AL.com.
Since mid-April the group has both temporarily and permanently closed 12 restaurants across the Southeast, including Psito in Summerhill and Hero Diner in Summerhill and Fayetteville. Google and the group’s restaurant websites currently list the Atlanta locations of Psito and Hero Diner as “temporarily closed.”
The report from AL.com states that a meat provider and banking company filed lawsuits against Pihakis Restaurant Group totaling more than $1 million in unpaid bills. Meanwhile, unpaid liens from a Birmingham developer in two Alabama counties total more than $12.6 million.
“Our goal is to emerge from this period with operations that are stronger and sustainable for the long term,” a statement provided to AL.com reads. The restaurant group said the temporary and permanent closures were “the hardest decisions we face.”
PRG founder Nick Pihakis has been on the Birmingham restaurant scene since the mid-1980s. Pihakis opened Jim N’ Nicks Bar-B-Q with his father in 1985. Atlanta-based Roark Capital Group acquired the barbecue restaurant brand in 2017. That same year, Pihakis began expanding with multiple restaurant concepts, opening Hero Diner (formerly Hero Doughnuts and Buns) in Birmingham and Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ in Charleston.
The formation of the Pihakis Restaurant Group led to further expansion into Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina.
The group opened Hero Diner in Summerhill in 2020, followed by a location in Fayetteville three years later. The sole location of Psito opened in Summerhill last March. A location of Rodney Scott’s BBQ opened on Metropolitan Parkway in Atlanta’s Pittsburgh neighborhood in 2021. It remains open and operating as of publication.
Rough Draft Atlanta reached out to Pihakis Restaurant Group for more details on the status of the Atlanta restaurant closures. Check back for updates.
