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Emory Village All-Day Breakfast Staple Rise-n-Dine Closes

The North Decatur Road restaurant closes after serving the Emory community for 13 years, citing the devastating financial losses stemming from the pandemic

Rise-n-Dine Rise n Dine
Beth McKibben is the editor and staff reporter for Eater Atlanta and has been covering food and cocktails locally and regionally for 12 years.

Emory Village all-day breakfast staple Rise-n-Dine closes after 13 years on North Decatur Road, citing the devastating financial losses stemming from the pandemic and how the health crisis has been handled by the Trump administration.

Rise-n-Dine closed for dine-in service in March at the start of the pandemic and briefly pivoted to takeout. It never reopened. A post to Instagram indicates the restaurant had planned to repay monies it received from the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) by October, which was used to pay the rent. The PPP loan, part of the federal COVID-19 small business stimulus package, is only forgiven if a business rehires its staff.

“...Trump wins this battle. His intentional incompetence at handling the Pandemic is shutting down so many of us independent small businesses. Larger corporate joints have an army of lawyers and accountants to find loopholes to make PPP work and force their landlords to discount rent,” the post reads, in part. “Our Landlord worked with us but wouldn’t give us a break on rent until December. $8,000 per month rent is too high to make takeout and limited outdoor seating profitable.”

Equipment and supplies from Rise-n-Dine are already for sale online, with the restaurant’s decorative items and books set to go up for sale at a later date. The money will be used to repay the PPP loan and for a possible reboot of Rise-n-Dine.

The congenial, retro-inspired restaurant, serving sweet potato pancakes, Belgian waffles, and egg sandwiches, was a popular spot for Emory University students and professors to dine during breakfast and lunch. Prior to the pandemic, Rise-n-Dine was also a perennial listing on Eater Atlanta’s essential breakfast restaurants.

Eater reached out for comment on the closure.

View this post on Instagram

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Thanks for your support and hanging with us. But we are finally throwing in the towel, and officially CLOSING. We hope to Rise Again someday, but Trump wins this battle. His intentional incompetence at handling the Pandemic is shutting down so many of us independent small businesses. Larger corporate joints have an army of lawyers and accountants to find loopholes to make PPP work and force their landlords to discount rent. Our Landlord worked with us but wouldn’t give us a break on rent until December. $8,000 per month rent is too high to make takeout and limited outdoor seating profitable. We got PPP—but it’s only forgiven if you bring back ALL your coworkers. We’d hoped by now we’d be back in operation with most of our team, and have most of our PPP loan forgiven. But by making Wearing Masks a Political Issue, the Administration dragged this out. Because they’ve made it a choice between Being Socially Responsible and Waving Your Personal Freedom Flag, even a vaccine won’t end this soon, since half of us are afraid to take it. If you miss us, PLEASE VOTE THEM OUT! And please continue to wear masks and think of others. Enlightened self-interest is almost dead in this country. We don’t know what we are going to do, after selling off what equipment and supplies we can (got to riseatl.com to see our new and used wares still for sake). Later we will post decor items and books we will sell to raise money for Rise-n-Dine 2.0 and repay the PPP Loan money we used for rent. Maybe we will keep this page to share Socially Responsible activity and Social Justice initiatives. George is already consulting with a small biz and helping a friend with theirs, but Stephanie is gonna take a break after 13 years of Rising-n-Dining. We’re open to suggestions and opportunities, whether they pay or allow us to give back to the Rise Community we so love. Stay strong, stay true, do no harm and be You. We love you and more than Sad, we are Glad to have had the joy of creating a place that welcomed all and getting to know so many of you. Godspeed! You can always reach us at Risendine@Comcast.net

A post shared by Rise-n-Dine at Emory Village (@risendine) on

Earlier this week, Atlanta-based ice cream company Queen of Cream closed its Poncey-Highland shop after one year at Plaza on Ponce, citing “the devastating effects of Covid-19” on the retail side of the business. October also saw the closures of Italian restaurant Donetto on Atlanta’s west side, Ammazza pizza in Decatur, Farm Burger in Peachtree Corners, and happy hour hotspot the Tavern at Phipps in Buckhead.

The Tavern At Phipps

3500 Peachtree Road Northeast, , GA 30326 (404) 814-9640 Visit Website

Rise-n-Dine

1565 North Decatur Road, , GA 30307 (404) 377-4407 Visit Website

Queen of Cream

702 Cleburne Terrace Northeast, , GA 30306 Visit Website

Farm Burger

882 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, , CA 94960 (415) 785-4802 Visit Website

Ammazza

591 Edgewood Avenue Southeast, , GA 30312 (404) 835-2298 Visit Website

Donetto

976 Brady Avenue Northwest, , GA 30318 (404) 445-6867 Visit Website