The 2026 FIFA World Cup is only two months away, and Atlanta restaurateurs and hoteliers are preparing in numerous ways for how the event will affect their businesses. From downtown to Decatur, from Buckhead to the Beltline, everyone is bracing for maximum impact.
“We expect to be packed all day and night,” says Eric Davis, General Manager of Eclipse di Luna in Inman Park’s Krog District, located right along the Atlanta Beltline. “We expect both locals and visitors. The beltline will attract tourists from all over the world. We think hotels and restaurants will be packed all throughout the city. The traffic will be horrible, especially on game days in Atlanta, so many people will eat/watch close to where they are staying. Downtown and the Beltline will be packed most days, since it’s where the matches are held and the top destination for tourists.”
Todd Ginsberg, Chef and Partner of Rye Restaurants, which owns Fred’s Meat & Bread and Yalla! within the Krog Street Market, is cautious in his expectations. “Honestly, we aren’t quite sure what to expect. Will we have the excitement of lots of new visitors, but will our regulars shy away, fearing crowds and chaos? Atlantans’ patterns change in the summer without the rhythm of the school year anyway, so we are used to some ebb and flow in the summer. I think we just have to prepare our teams as best as possible for whatever comes at us,” he says. “We’re working on a World Cup Hospitality ‘boot camp’ for our teams leading up to the event. The truth is, we are constantly resetting and refreshing when it comes to hospitality, but we feel the extra weight of representing our city and our country with every interaction during the World Cup.”
Some restaurants are planning extra touches of hospitality for foreign visitors, some of which Americans expect abroad, but that we rarely offer to visitors in the U.S.
“Leading with a hospitality-first mindset, we think it’s a standard courtesy to offer multilingual menus to guests,” says Stephen de Haan, Founder and Chairman of RPB Management Group, the team behind the new 207 Peachtree property downtown, where multiple concepts within the development will offer this amenity. “Guests will be able to view digital menus in a variety of languages via QR codes, and for a more personalized and welcoming experience, we will offer select menus printed in key teams’ languages on certain match days.”
Different Hours and Dining Habits
John CastellucciExtended hours are also on the minds of most operators, as they prepare to accommodate the different dining habits of international visitors, especially the Spanish, who notoriously dine late into the evening and who have two daytime group-stage matches in Atlanta.
“For the Spain matches, we have plans to open early and to show the games,” says John Castellucci, Culinary Director for Spanish-themed restaurants Iberian Pig and Cooks & Soldiers, neither of which typically open during the daytime. “We are working on a special lunch menu with game day offerings. We are also in early stages of planning a big watch party for one of the games with a number of our product partners at The Iberian Pig in Buckhead.”
“We are intentionally aligning with a variety of international dining habits, offering late seatings and continued food and beverage service into the early morning hours,” says de Haan. He added that select concepts within 207 Peachtree, such as Amalfi Cucina + Mercato, Peachtree Sporting Club and AIRA Rooftop Lounge, will feature curated late-night menus designed for both full dining experiences and elevated late-evening social gatherings. 207 Peachtree, a 45,000-square-foot entertainment, dining and event destination that opened this spring at the intersection of Peachtree Street and Andrew Young International Blvd., will be in the thick of the action on game days, as it is within walking distance of Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Centennial Olympic Park.
“With international matches taking place in Atlanta, we are being very intentional about offering experiences to welcome guests from all over the world,” he says, adding that locals are expected too. “We anticipate the energy of the World Cup will impact local dining behavior. Atlanta is already a vibrant city, and this moment will allow our town to embody a more global rhythm of dining and socializing well into the night.”
Ginsberg agreed, looking for a way to describe how he expected the city to feel during the event. “I’m struggling to come up with a better word than ‘cool!’ I love being in cities like New York or Montreal, and hearing multiple languages being spoken at any given time just walking down the street. Of course, anytime you have visitors descend en masse on a new place, especially for a single large event, it can bring some chaos. All Atlantans, and particularly those of us in the service industry, are going to have to embrace it and go through our days with a bit more patience.”
Take Care of Your Team
Davis agrees that despite his team’s preparations, there are still a lot of unknowns. “We’ve been planning for the World Cup for months to prepare for the business explosion. We are ordering and stocking in advance to be ready. We’re curious how the surrounding streets will handle parking and traffic. We’re curious about the commute times for tourists, employees, vendors.”
Ginsberg points out that changing hours of operation presents its own set of challenges. “It’s already typical for us to keep our restaurants open an hour or so later in the summer, when it gets darker later, so that helps. Luckily, the majority of the World Cup games are scheduled for noon kickoffs, which leaves lots of time for exploration after the matches, even with closing times that may be unusually early for our foreign visitors,” he says. “But staffing isn’t limitless, so pushing our evening hours back significantly creates a challenge for our opening time.”
“Preparation for extended hours is critical, as the World Cup will bring ongoing, high-volume capacity to restaurants,” says de Haan. “We’re also planning to prioritize our team’s well-being during this busy time by scheduling shifts thoughtfully and checking in on their energy and morale so we can provide the best possible guest experience during the tournament.”
What will international visitors ultimately take away from their time in Atlanta?
Castellucci says, “We hope visitors see and experience that, while we are certainly a Southern city in all of the best ways, sharing our hospitality and warmth, we are just as cosmopolitan as we are Southern. There is a little something for everyone here. We are a city of transplants essentially, and that melting pot mentality is welcoming.”
Davis’s predicted takeaway is a little simpler: “Bad traffic. Good food.”
Lara Creasy is Beverage Director for Rocket Farm Restaurants, overseeing ten Superica locations in four states. She loves all things beverage from tea to tequila, coffee to cocktails, whiskey to wine, and gets to make a living at it.
