Charleston Restaurant Report APRIL 2026
ON THE MENU
1. Local Restaurant Scene -- SYSCO IS BUYING RESTAURANT DEPOT
2. National Restaurant Scene – EMPLOYMENT LEVEL IN FULL-SERVICE RESTAURANT SECTOR STILL HASN'T RECOVERED FROM COVID
3. Restaurant Openings, Closings + Coming Soon!
4. Food For Thought -- LESS RESTAURANTS ARE COMING SOON
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LOCAL RESTAURANT SCENE
SYSCO IS BUYING RESTAURANT DEPOT
Sysco, one of the country's largest broadline food distributors with a presence in Charleston, is joining forces with Restaurant Depot, one of the largest cash and carry equipment and supply dealers in the country. Hopefully this translates locally into better pricing, selection, sales, and service for F&B operators in the Charleston area. Read more about it in Restaurant Business Online...------------------------------------------------------------
NATIONAL RESTAURANT SCENE
EMPLOYMENT LEVEL IN FULL-SERVICE RESTAURANT SECTOR STILL HASN'T RECOVERED FROM COVID
It's been six years since COVID hit the US in 2020, and full-service restaurants still employ less people than they did at their peak in early 2020. On the flip side, limited and quick service restaurants are employing hundreds of thousands more people than they were before COVID. Full-service restaurants took the brunt of the COVID hit. In the years since, there has been an industry shift toward smaller, quicker, and more efficient operations models. Check out the analysis in Nation's Restaurant News....---------------------------------------------------------------------------
RESTAURANT OPENINGS, CLOSINGS + COMING SOON!
Openings + Closings list reflects 1st Quarter 2026 (Jan-March) market activity:
OPENINGS --
Annie Mae’s Bakeshop (Downtown)
Bareo (Downtown — former Kultura)
Bearded Tavern (North Charleston — former The Bearded Ax)
Curry Palace (West Ashley — former La Bonne Franquette)
Decoy (Mount Pleasant — former Basement)
Duck Donuts (Mount Pleasant)
Dutch Bros. Coffee (North Charleston)
Five Guys (Goose Creek)
Fratello’s Italian Tavern (James Island — former O’brion’s Pub)
Fu O BBQ (Summerville)
Giannone Eatery (Mount Pleasant)
Maya Del Sol (North Charleston — relocated)
No Bull Burger Bar (North Charleston — former Southern Roots)
Odd Duck Market (Summerville)
Peach Cobbler Factory (Downtown — former Chat Time Tea)
Pizza a Modo Mio (Cainhoy — former Zavarella’s Pizza)
Roxa (Hanahan)
Sonder (Downtown)
StillWild Coffee Co. (Summerville — former Cuppa Manna)
Sunrise Bistro (Goose Creek — former Ti Ney Bangkok II)
Super Happy Crab (North Charleston — former Carolina Crab House)
Terra (Downtown)
The Crossing (Downtown)
The Lick (West Ashley — former Yobo Cantina)
The Pass (Mount Pleasant — former Kahuna Poke)
Tracer Coffee (Downtown)
CLOSINGS --
Annie’s Hot Donuts (Mount Pleasant)
Charlotte’s on Maybank (James Island)
Essentials Coffee (Moncks Corner)
Frothy Beard Off World (Summerville)
High Score Brewing Co. (North Charleston)
Joyland (Downtown)
Little Peanut Bake Shop (West Ashley)
Wendy’s (Mount Pleasant)
COMING SOON --
The number of publicly-announced restaurant projects on the Coming Soon list -- expected to open in the next 12 months -- is 40 at the end of the 1st Quarter.
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
LESS RESTAURANTS ARE COMING SOON
The number of restaurant projects on the Coming Soon list peaked at around 80 in early 2024. Since then, the pace of new restaurant projects has definitely slowed down. At the end of the current quarter, the number stood around 40.
What does that indicate? I believe the numbers reflected an increase in new construction multi-tenant projects coming out of Covid in 2023-24. Since then, the newly constructed spaces have been filled. There is still plenty of activity in local restaurant leasing, sales and business takeovers. The larger spaces are taking longer to backfill, while the smaller spaces tend to lease more quickly.
