Del Taco exits Columbus and Phenix City again as multiple Georgia restaurants close permanently
The latest wave of closures has seen del taco abruptly pull out of the Chattahoochee Valley, with the Hamilton Road site in Columbus and the Highway 280 location in Phenix City closing permanently. The closures signal a broader retreat from Georgia after the chain’s units were removed from online listings statewide.
Del Taco pullback in Georgia: locations and timeline
Notices posted at the affected restaurants announced the permanent shutdowns, and the company removed these units, along with all Georgia locations, from its public listings. The Columbus restaurant originally opened in August 2014; the Phenix City site opened in November 2019. Earlier openings and closures in the state include an Opelika location that opened in February 2024 and closed last summer.
Separate listings and internal updates indicate a wide set of Georgia closures beyond Columbus and Phenix City. Named Georgia sites that have been listed as permanently closed include locations in Tucker, Snellville, Lawrenceville, Smyrna, Douglasville, Calhoun, Dalton, Centerville, Fort Oglethorpe, and Rome. As of Feb. 19, the brand’s public listing showed no open locations in Georgia and one remaining location in Huntsville, Alabama.
Why the del taco contraction matters: finances, ownership and franchise strain
The company has faced declining sales and rising operating costs in recent years. Multiple franchisee bankruptcies and weaker revenue have been cited as factors behind permanent shutdowns in the region, including the earlier Opelika closure. In July 2025 the parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a step tied to debt and cash-flow challenges.
Ownership changes have also reshaped the chain’s trajectory. The brand was purchased by a larger restaurant company in March 2022 for roughly $585 million and later sold in December 2025 for about $119 million. Those transactions and the 2025 bankruptcy filing are part of the recent chain-level upheaval tied to the contraction of locations in Georgia.
Local impact and what to watch next
The abrupt nature of the closures has left local customers and employees confronting sudden loss of service and jobs in multiple communities. The withdrawal from these markets marks a reversal for sites that reopened or launched during earlier expansion phases.
Key items to watch going forward: whether any Georgia franchises will return under new operators; how remaining regional locations in neighboring states are affected; and whether the corporate restructuring tied to the Chapter 11 filing will yield reopenings, asset sales, or additional closures. The situation remains a developing story, and details may evolve as the company’s restructuring and franchise landscape progress.
Del Taco has not released a public statement about the latest round of closures. Recent updates indicate a sweeping pullback from Georgia markets that had been re-entered less than 12 years earlier in some cases, underscoring how quickly local footprints can contract in a challenging operating environment.
