Downtown Asheville restaurant closes 'due to economic market conditions'

ASHEVILLE - Asheville diners will have to look elsewhere for a fondue experience after a national restaurant, Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc., closed its downtown location.

On March 30, Melting Pot Social at 74 Patton Ave. closed at the end of service hours.

On March 31, the company announced it was shuttering the downtown restaurant on social media:

“Valued fans,

We regret to announce that Melting Pot Social of Asheville has closed for business indefinitely as of Sunday, March 31, 2024. The first-of-its-kind location opened in the height of the pandemic and has closed indefinitely due to economic market conditions not returning to pre-pandemic levels.

We appreciate the opportunity to have served the Asheville community for more than 2 and a half years.

While there are no confirmed plans to re-open this location, Melting Pot Social has hopes to return to North Carolina in the future.”

Melting Pot Restaurants specializes in cheese and chocolate fondue and promotes communal dining. In 2000, a traditional Melting Pot restaurant opened at 26 Lodge St. in Biltmore Village and operated for several years.

The company debuted its Melting Pot Social concept, designed as a flex-casual service model with counter and table service, in Asheville in July 2021.

Melting Pot Social opened at the 3,618-square-foot commercial space across from Pritchard Park and neighboring other restaurants, including Jerusalem Garden Café and Red Ginger Dimsum and Tapas.

Melting Pot Social opened with brunch, lunch, dinner and late-night bar services.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant's menu expanded with non-sharable options like sandwiches, flatbreads and salads.

Melting Pot Restaurants, a Florida-based company founded in 1975, has more than 95 restaurants in 31 U.S. states and Canada, according to its restaurant management company, Front Burner.

The company no longer has Melting Pot Social locations in North Carolina. According to the restaurant’s website, Melting Pot locations are operational in Charlotte, Raleigh and Wilmington, as well as in Greenville, South Carolina and Knoxville, Tennessee.

Last month, Melting Pot announced Omaha, Nebraska as its next development market, part of its “aggressive growth plan” in an article at restaurantnews.com, a digital industry publication. The company left the Nebraska market in 2014.

Melting Pot reported companywide unit-level sales growth and system-wide remodeling efforts for its 94 franchises and promoted franchise opportunities.

More than 20% of restaurants were reported to have reopened after remodels in 2023, and 37 remodeled location reopenings are expected for 2024. More expansions are planned across the U.S.

Parties interested in leasing the downtown Asheville location can contact Joey Morganthall at [email protected].

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Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Melting Pot Social closes in Asheville, company grows across U.S.