A former Del Taco along GA-85 in Riverdale is getting a new tenant, and it's one with deep Atlanta roots: Piccadilly To Go. Renovations are already underway at 6791 GA-85 to convert the shuttered fast-food building into a new outpost of the longtime Southern cafeteria brand, which is leaning into a smaller, quick-service format as it expands across the metro.
The Riverdale project will occupy the space where Del Taco once operated before all of the chain's Georgia restaurants closed, according to tonetoatl.com. Before Del Taco, the same property was home to another full-service restaurant called Pepper's, the outlet reports. As whatnow.com notes, the new Piccadilly To Go is listed as “coming soon” on the company's website, though no exact opening date has been announced.
Once open, the Riverdale restaurant will become the eighth Piccadilly location in the Greater Atlanta area, joining existing spots in Stockbridge, Fayetteville, College Park, Decatur, Tucker and Marietta, per the same report. Piccadilly's own location listings confirm addresses in Tucker, Atlanta, Fayetteville and Marietta. The brand, long known for its comfort-food cafeteria spreads, has been gradually shifting some of its footprint toward faster, smaller-format restaurants.
A Smaller Format Modeled on Decatur
The Riverdale location will likely resemble Piccadilly's quick-service spot in Decatur, which opened earlier this year, the WhatNow report notes. That Candler Road location, housed in a former Burger King, introduced the company's first drive-through window as part of a scaled-down version of Piccadilly's traditional cafeteria experience, according to tonetoatl.com's earlier coverage of the Decatur debut. Atlanta Magazine described the setup as a quick-serve model where diners can get a hearty meal for less than $14.
The commercial listing for the Riverdale property describes a building constructed in 2019 with an existing drive-thru and prime visibility along a corridor carrying roughly 48,000 vehicles a day, according to commercialsearch.com. That listing also notes the site is well suited for quick-service, fast-casual or adaptive reuse concepts. It is not yet confirmed whether the new Piccadilly will make use of that drive-thru lane.
Part of a Broader Push Beyond Atlanta
Piccadilly's embrace of the smaller To-Go format isn't limited to Georgia. The company also opened a similar unit on Riverdale Road in Memphis this past spring, inside a former Fazoli's, according to tonetoatl.com. That Memphis location held its grand opening on April 1, per the Daily Memphian, after Piccadilly closed a traditional buffet location on Mount Moriah Road and moved its kitchen team to the smaller site to relearn how to prepare salads, sides, entrees and desserts for the condensed format.
Company officials framed that Memphis shift as evolution rather than retreat. “We're not going away; we're replacing,” Piccadilly told the Daily Memphian at the time. Atlanta Magazine reports that six traditional Piccadilly cafeterias remain in the metro Atlanta region even as the company experiments with these smaller units — a sign the brand is adding formats rather than abandoning its original cafeteria concept.
A Brand With Decades of Atlanta History
Piccadilly cafeterias first arrived in Atlanta in the mid-1960s, according to Atlanta Magazine, giving the chain decades of local recognition well before this latest expansion. Reports on the company's overall footprint differ slightly: whatnow.com describes Piccadilly as having nearly 30 locations spread across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia, while tonetoatl.com puts the figure at 28 locations across the same seven states. Either way, the Riverdale project adds another chapter to a brand that has spent six decades serving the region.
For now, Riverdale residents will have to watch the renovations at 6791 GA-85 continue without a confirmed opening date. Piccadilly's website still lists the location simply as coming soon, and no timeline for a grand opening has been made public.
