Newk’s Eatery moving fast toward earlier opening in Columbus

Popular restaurant company Newk’s Eatery is closing in on the completion of its first location in Columbus.

Crews were busy Tuesday working on the interior of the 5,200-square-foot space that Newk’s will occupy at 5555 Whittlesey Blvd., in the Columbus Park Crossing development. Information from a public relations firm working with the Newk’s field marketing department indicates the company is now projecting a Dec. 18 opening. It expects to have a certificate of occupancy a couple of weeks earlier.

A previous timeline for the opening was in early 2018.

A city building permit issued Oct. 30 shows a fire system now being installed inside the property, which is the former Atlanta Bread Company location. Barnes & Noble is on one side of of the eatery, with Marble Slab Creamery on the other side. An earlier building permit purchased in August showed JMH Dining LLC, a Jackson, Miss.-based franchisee of Newk’s Eatery, spending $450,000 on retrofitting the space to the Newk’s format and look.

Newk’s Eatery is well known for its soups, sandwiches, salads and pizza. It’s menu includes a variety of pizzas, including Newk’s Q, Grilled Chicken Summer Squash, Bleu Hawaiian, Mediterranean, Spicy Shrimp, Veggie, and Sausage & Pepperoni.

Sandwiches include steak and chimichurri, choice roast beef, turkey avocado, pimiento cheese, smoked ham, grilled steak, Italian, club, pesto chicken, shrimp po’boy and chicken salad.

Soups range from Five Bean Chili, Pepperjack Crawfish, Pulled Corn & Pork Chowder and Spinach and Feta to Lobster and Crab Bisque, Loaded Potato, Chicken Tortilla and Tomato Basil.

There are several salads, with toppings that include grilled salmon, ahi tuna, grilled chicken greek-style, shrimp remoulade and chicken salad. The mac and cheese offerings are five cheese and six cheese pimiento with bacon.

Homemade desserts feature several flavors of cakes — chocolate, iced lemon, caramel and strawberry — as well as lemon whoopie pie, brownies and peanut butter krispy.

Newk’s has more than 115 locations in 13 states, mostly across the Southeast. It was founded in 2004 as Newk’s Express Cafe by father and son chefs Don and Chris Newcomb, then rebranded to Newk’s Eatery in 2013.

Sentinel Capital Partners, a private equity firm, bought the chain in 2014. The Newcombs also previously founded and sold the McAlister’s Deli chain, with its Columbus location on Veterans Parkway across from Lowe’s Home Improvement.

This story was originally published November 7, 2017 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Newk’s Eatery moving fast toward earlier opening in Columbus."