Birmingham, Alabama-based coffee company Revelator is closing the original — and last remaining — location of popular Atlanta coffee shop Octane.
Revelator, which purchased the cluster of Octane shops in 2017 from Tony and Diane Riffel, does not have a firm date for the closure, owner Josh Owens first told Atlanta Business Chronicle and confirmed to the AJC.
“The lease was nearly up, and in this pandemic environment, it didn’t make sense to try to renew,” Owen said via email.
The original Octane opened in 2003 at 1009 Marietta St. NW.
““I felt like this area had such potential because there were so many creative companies in the area,” Tony Riffel told the AJC in 2004.
Two other Revelator-backed concepts — Sweet Tooth Dessert Cafe at Phipps Plaza and Coffee and Ice Cream at Lenox Square — will not reopen after closing in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Revelator locations in Grant Park and in Midtown at 1280 Peachtree St. NW at Woodruff Arts Center closed last year. The company also owned Mourning Dove, a cafe at Shops Buckhead Atlanta that closed after less than a year.
A Revelator coffee shop at 101 Marietta St. that closed in March will likely not reopen, Owen told the Atlanta Business Chronicle. That closure would mean Revelator would no longer have a physical retail presence in Atlanta.
In addition to its Atlanta locations, Revelator also owns two coffee shops in Birmingham and one in New Orleans, as well as a wine bar in Los Angeles. Owen said the future of those businesses remains uncertain.
Octane and Hazel Jane’s are the latest food and beverage concept casualty due to the coronavirus economic impact. Other recent closures include Bogartz Food Artz in Sandy Springs, the Virginia-Highland location of Yeah Burger, Cardinal in Grant Park and Gio’s Chicken at The Battery Atlanta.
