Chef-owner Nate Armstrong opened his Big Oak Tavern in Roswell just a month before the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020. Now, more than three years later, Armstrong has decided to close the restaurant to focus on overcoming a different kind of challenge.
Armstrong announced the closure in a post on the restaurant’s Instagram account.
Armstrong told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the negative financial impacts of COVID-19, staffing shortages and the injuries he sustained after an April car crash all factored into his decision to sell the restaurant.
“It’s been a struggle,” he said. “I’ve been working seven days a week for months straight. I thought the labor pool would get better, but it got worse. We got busier with the same amount of staff.”
He said the effects of the crash, which still cause him to wake up in pain many days, “was a sign that there’s more to life than just work.” He plans to spend more time with his family, including his wife and two sons, and switch careers.
Armstrong, who opened Big Oak Tavern at 1090 Alpharetta St., Roswell in February 2020, said he’s proud that he achieved his initial goal of “planting roots in the community, growing with the community and giving back.”
He organized neighborhood blood drives, provided meals for underprivileged school children, and served more than 7,500 meals to frontline workers through his Hero Meals program at the beginning of the pandemic.
“I know what we did made a lasting impression,” he said.
Armstrong, who served a menu of soups, salads, burgers, steaks and seafood, previously served as executive chef and general manager at Stoney River Steakhouse in Roswell.
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