Ludacris to open ‘Chicken & Beer’ restaurant at Atlanta International Airport

American rapper and actor tweeted restaurant plans to 3.7 million Twitter followers Tuesday.

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Christopher Brian Bridges, better known by his stage name Ludacris, is opening a second restaurant in Atlanta. Straits, his other Atlanta eatery, is located on Juniper Street in Midtown.

Tuesday evening the American rapper and actor tweeted his newest venture, Chicken & Beer, will open at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

“Im taking my restaurateur footprint into the busiest airport in the WORLD! Hartsfield-Jackson ATL International!,” Ludacris tweeted. “Chicken & Beer coming soon!”

Ludacris’ new restaurant most likely gets its name from “Chicken-n-Beer,” his third studio album which peaked at number one in the United States with 429,000 copies sold in the first week, according to Wikipedia. The album was release in 2003.

Chicken & Beer will open at Concourse D, Ludacris tweeted in response to one of his more that 3.7 million Twitter followers, minutes later.

Concourse D’s current restaurant tenants include Blimpie Express Subs, Burger King, Chili’s To Go, Cinnabon, Freshëns, Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs, Phillip’s Seafood, Quiznos, Sbarro Pizza, Simply Fabulous Deserts & Treats, Sojourner’s Bar & Lounge, Starbucks, Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint and Wolfgang Puck, according to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport’s IFly.com listing.

Developing…

 

Caleb J. Spivak

Caleb J. Spivak

Caleb J. Spivak

Caleb J. Spivak

21 Responses

  1. I read a while back that some of Atlanta’s top restaurant owners (such as Rathbun) were vying for spots at the airport. How the heck did Ludacris win one of these much coveted airport locations?

  2. Great…so the first and last thing visitor’s to Atlanta are going to see is a place called “chicken n’ beer”. Good thing we’re not doing anything to refute the poor stereotypes. Another shop coming is Spanx – you know, the clothing that fat chicks wear to hide the fact that they’re lard asses. So the new motto is – “Come to Atlanta, where you can gorge yourself on shitty food, and then squeeze your blubber into a restrictive piece of clothing, so that the world can’t immediately tell you’re a disgusting slob”. F’ing Atlanta…

  3. “How the heck did Ludacris win one of these much coveted airport locations?”
    He’s the godson of Kasim’s sister’s cousin’s auntee, you ain’t kno?

  4. I don’t want HJIA looking like the ‘hood either, but before everybody jumps all over this, here is a more complete list (from the 12-14 AJC):

    Ruby Tuesday, P.F. Chang’s, Pappadeaux Seafood, Pinkberry, McDonald’s, Qdoba, Varasano’s Pizzeria, Chick‐fil‐A, TWIST, Willy’s, Popeyes, Yogurbella, Dunkin’ Donuts, Paschals, T.G.I. Friday’s, Fresh to Order, Little Azio, Lavazza Coffee, Carrabba’s, The Varsity, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, LongHorn, La Madeleine, The Real Chow Baby, Baja Fresh, French Meadow Bakery, The Pecan, Rolling Bones BBQ, Chipotle, Ruby’s Diner, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Popeyes, Bojangles’, Corner Bakery Café, Fatburger, Georgia Grown, Argo Tea Café, Shane’s Rib Shack, Atlanta Chophouse, Coffee Beanery, Starbucks, Chicken N Beer, Atlanta Braves All-Star Grill, Goldberg’s Bagel Co., Michon’s Smokehouse, Jekyll Island Seafood Co., Asian Chao, Gold Coast Dogs, Jersey Mike’s Subs, Wienerz Grill.

    This is a decent mix of local and national brands, so at least a little credit is due the DOA.

  5. hi jm – the restaurants we listed are the restaurants currently at concourse d, not new restaurants that will open at the international terminal.

    thanks for sharing though!

    –cjs

  6. Why all the snobbish hate for a local guy that rose up to celebrity status? Chicken & Beer are great things and this might be a great business. Love it or not, Atlanta is known for hip-hop and rap, and the South is known for having the best (fried) chicken. Two of the few cultural elements separating Atlanta from being an “anywhere USA” corporate city.

    I’m betting the naysayers would be all about some fried chicken if a Rathbun or Gillespie was behind it…I love their food too, but maybe the airport just isn’t the best place for it, given who’s eating and what needs / occasions they’re trying to fill at an airport restaurant.

  7. Fried Chicken and Heineken. Better be sitting close to the lavatory on the plane after going here.

    Whatever they have, the place will be packed. Anyplace that has alcohol is always packed in each concourse.

  8. Caleb – The entire airport concessions business was just rebid, not just the international terminal. Chicken n Beer will be joining the restaurants I listed. The restaurants you listed will be going away. JM

  9. @ Morningsider – hate to break it to you, but Atlanta is the capitol of Anywhere USA. It shouldn’t be, with home offices for companies like Delta, Home Depot, UPS, etc., a handful of strong educational centers, and the world’s busiest airport, but it is. The fact that people tout “rap & the best fried chicken” as things that make this city great, instead of other things like “Georgia Tech, home to the most recognizable brand in the world (coke), the world’s busiest airport, ground zero for civil rights, etc.” is a large part of the problem.

    People don’t travel to, or want to relocate to, a city because of it’s chicken and rap music.

  10. “Good thing we’re not doing anything to refute the poor stereotypes”

    In Atlanta this is reality. Most of you are simply too late to turn this ship, you needed to be here in the 80s and 90’s when the town had major potential. It no longer does.

  11. @ OS – you realize that we have one of the best engineering schools in the country smack dab in the middle of the city, right? You realize that more people come through our airport on a daily basis than anywhere else in the world, right? You realize that massive swaths of land within the city sit idle, and could be home to future development, right? You realize that the climate in the south is something people covet as a deciding factor when choosing places to live? Accessibility to beaches and mountains, check. Low cost of living within city limits, check. I’d argue that there is a tremendous amount of potential in Atlanta….that is, of course being squandered, but potential nonetheless…

  12. Urbanist – You said “People don’t travel to, or want to relocate to, a city because of it’s chicken and rap music.”
    Riiight…and nobody goes to Texas for the brisket and country music. Or Portland/Seattle for the coffee and indy rock.
    By people I guess you meant people like you and the people you know. I read this blog a lot, and that seems to be your style – whatever you think or want must be what most people think or want. There’s a saying in corporate marketing circles…“always remember you are not average”.
    I agree that you’ve listed some of the other few things that distinguish Atlanta, and agree that the relative apathy over the key role Atlantans have played in the civil rights movement is a missed opportunity (glad for the new museum going up at Centennial Olympic Park though).

  13. @ Morningsider – Let me re-phrase..”the type of people that will make strong positive contributions to the city won’t move here for the fried chicken and the rap”. Yeah, it’s mean, insensitive, and it’s a little bit of a stereotype to say that, but it’s true.

    This city is full of fat asses and entourages, and it degrades the quality of life for those that aspire for something more than mediocrity. I talk to so many people who come here, and sample the restaurants and they ask “don’t you have any decent food that isn’t unhealthy or southern”? I talk to so many people who come here and take in the nightlife and they say “what the [expletive] is up with the incessant photographers and trash in your nightclubs/bars”? I talk to so many people who come here looking for a cultural experience, and they look at the High, and say “that’s the best you’ve got”?

    The reason for this is because we squander opportunity. In 2005 there was in-town demand for additional rental housing and retail. Instead of thinking of an original and creative way to find a place for that in the city, we spent millions on plopping a poorly designed cookie cutter community, that’s been handed back to the bank on multiple occasions, in what is effectively a no man’s land (only to start to show signs of life 6 years later).

    We have 5.5mm people in the metro area, and we couldn’t support a hockey team. Yet the RDU metropolis, which is 20% of the size of Atlanta’s MSA, can.

    We have a colossal traffic problem on our hands, and the solution is HOT lanes, and an almost entirely meaningless beltline project (which will do nothing to ease traffic congestion), that we’re throwing millions at, instead of coming up with a way to get more funds for, and expand, our in-town public transportation.

    We’re a horribly unhealthy area/city, and instead of promoting healthy measures (banning smoking in bars, etc.), we get giddy about a new “chicken & beer place”.

    The list goes on….

  14. Sigh Urbanist… I don’t understand your hatred for the Beltline. It DOES connect intown neighborhoods… so does the Clifton Corridor rail extension from Lindbergh to Emory to Avondale. All of these projects are on the transportation referendum this year… including upgrades to MARTA… and all of them help improve intown transit.

    If it was such a crappy idea, why is it constantly being praised on urban development websites?? When you speak of intown transit, what DO you want?? MARTA, while it could use some extensions here and there, will never be like the NYC subway.

  15. @ Mike – There are segments of it that will prove effective, but the plan as a whole will be a colossal waste. Connectivity to the city as a whole is what is important, connecting vibrant neighborhoods with direct connections is what is meaningful and effective when it comes to public transport. The Beltline does this in a few places, but as a whole is just a nice fancy PR project, with little to no utility. Proof of that is the massive amount of “green space” the project is providing, that is completely unnecessary…but of course, “green” is the PR word of the week.

    What I want is for people – developers, grad students, city officials, etc. – to stop looking at the Atlanta region thinking about how they can do something huge, and explosive, because those projects never work. I want people to start looking at our city, and thinking about how to create a sustainable, organic, pattern of urban growth.

    That means looking at all the empty land and thinking about the best uses for it, and how to best connect it to the existing infrastructure and neighborhoods. I said it before – instead of building Atlantic Station, all of that supply (and demand) should have been slowly throughout the existing areas of midtown. It should have been done by a multitude of developers, in a much more measured way – i.e. add 50 apartments here, with space for ground floor retail. Let those fill up, and then add 100 more, and so on. Get rid of the ridiculous plazas and setbacks that so many buildings have and bring them to the sidewalk, utilize the space. Let the city grow organically, instead of continually repeating and failing with this “field of dreams” mentality.

    As far as transportation is concerned, I want meaningful linkages. I think the most deserving area for public transportation is between Midtown & the Highlands/Inman Park, via Ponce. The system has to be integrated with Martas, as nobody wants to have to carry around multiple types of commuter cards. This is a route that would be used ALL THE TIME, by residents and visitors alike…not the extension to John’s Creek (one of the Marta improvements you speak of). I think the second most deserving area would be a loop down 10th Street going west, up Howell Mill, and back along 17th Street (coming east). Providing transportation and accessibility to these neighborhoods will spur infill development in all the space in between, and then it’s the cities job to make sure that’s done in the densest and most diverse way possible.

    I could easily take a map and draw 20 years worth of meaningful development and proposed transportation lines that would (i) reduce Atlanta’s dependency on cars, (ii) have far greater utility than all these slapstick projects like Atlantic Station, Lindbergh, The Beltline, etc., and (iii) Cost the city far less on a net basis. I feel like this city is run by a conglomerate of Robert Moses’, which is a horrible, horrible thing.

  16. I don’t think Ludacris should have won a contract. Straits was never a successful restaurant and now he is closing it down. He is not a chef, but an investor. He does not have a proven concept. I see this Chicken n Beer as the same as Usher’s The Grape, and the short lived Jermaine Dupri’s “Dupri’s” as examples along with Dolce Group entertainers. Just because your famous does not mean you know anything about how to create and serve great food. Where is BLRG, Concentrics, 5th Group, H2S, Metrotainment, or U restaurant on this list? These are people who know how to operate restaurants. Maybe too upscale, but at least some kind of tapas tasting small plates would have been a change from all the fast casual garbage. Gald to see Tin Drum was not on this list.

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