Upscale burger bar coming to Forest Acres

A new business development in Forest Acres is getting its first tenant.

Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar is opening its first Columbia location in the Cardinal Crossing development, the restaurant chain confirmed to The State.

When the upscale burger chain opens the first week of October, it will be the first business to open on the site of the old Cardinal Newman School on Forest Drive.

Bad Daddy’s CEO Boyd Hoback described the restaurant as a full-service, family-oriented bar with a made-from-scratch menu and an assortment of local microbrews on tap. Hoback said the company is in talks with Columbia-area brewers to fill out the selection.

The burger bar started in Charlotte in 2007, and now has 35 locations in six states, including two restaurants in Greenville. Hoback said the chain also plans to open a location at Nexton Square in Summerville in September.

Cardinal Crossing will offer a mix of commercial and residential uses on the former site of the Catholic high school, which moved to northeast Richland County in 2016.

This story was originally published June 20, 2019 at 2:22 PM.

Bristow Marchant

The State

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Bristow Marchant covers local government, schools and community in Lexington County for The State. He graduated from the College of Charleston in 2007. He has almost 20 years of experience covering South Carolina at the Clinton Chronicle, Sumter Item and Rock Hill Herald. He joined The State in 2016. Bristow has won numerous awards, most recently the S.C. Press Association’s 2024 education reporting award.  Support my work with a digital subscription