Hugh Acheson sells remaining Georgia restaurant Five and Ten to Athens restaurateur Peter Dale

Chef Hugh Acheson has sold his remaining Georgia restaurant , Five and Ten , to Athens chef and restaurateur Peter Dale .

Dale first met Acheson in 2002 while working in the kitchen at Five and Ten and would help the “Top Chef” judge open a second Athens restaurant, The National, in 2007. Dale also co-owns Condor Chocolates and Maepole in Athens and Atlanta and was a former owner of Seabear Oyster Bar in the Classic City.

He credits Acheson for launching his career as a chef and serving as his mentor both in the kitchen and as a restaurateur. The acquisition of Acheson’s flagship restaurant pays tribute to that mentorship, Dale told Rough Draft. He began mulling over buying Five and Ten late last year when Acheson mentioned he was considering selling the business.

Rather than see it go to someone who didn’t understand Acheson’s vision for the restaurant and what it has meant to Athens and Southern food over the past 24 years, Dale and his husband decided to buy it.

“Five and Ten is where I got my start. It feels like a homecoming. I wasn’t sure anyone else would recognize how important Five and Ten is or have the institutional knowledge about what has been going on there for over two decades,” Dale said. “I worried someone else wouldn’t nurture it. This was an opportunity for us to take care of something we wanted to see flourish. We didn’t want it to fade away.”

Dale admitted some of the reasoning for acquiring Five and Ten came down to more personal connections to the restaurant, including it being his first restaurant job and hosting pivotal life moments like his wedding dinner and his parent’s 50th wedding anniversary party.

As for his plans for the award-winning Athens restaurant, Dale said he will work with current Chef Fausto Zamorano De Miguel and wine director Steven Grubbs to continue the legacy Acheson built at Five and Ten. Dale wants to reconnect with regulars and the community in Athens and will be at the restaurant frequently. He’ll work the dining room greeting patrons while mentoring talent in the kitchen.

“[Fausto] is a young chef. He’s 27. But he’s got all of these great ideas and that’s really inspiring,” said Dale. “I want to see him and the menu progress and for Five and Ten to feel modern and fresh and relevant to new people in Athens while still honoring its past for regulars. You’ll see the return of classic dishes like the Frogmore stew and watermelon feta salad this summer.”

Look for the return of former chefs and bartenders, too, in a series of events Dale hopes to launch next year for Five and Ten’s 25th anniversary in Athens.

“So many great people have worked at this restaurant and have gone on to have illustrious careers. There are still folks on the team who were here when I started,” Dale said. “They’re all part of the Five and Ten family.”

Over the summer, the restaurant will be given a bit of a refresh to shore up the historic house, including updating the interiors and installing better soundproofing in the dining room. It should all be completed before the 2024 fall term begins at the University of Georgia.

Acheson opened Five and Ten in 2000 when the term “farm-to-table” wasn’t used to describe a style of cooking that leans into sourcing ingredients locally and seasonally. At Five and Ten, Acheson highlighted local farmers who grew many of the ingredients for the restaurant. Here, Acheson showcased Southern food through the lens of French and Italian cooking techniques. Five and Ten would help catapult Acheson into the national spotlight, garnering him a James Beard award for Best Chef: Southeast, book deals, and ongoing appearances on television programs like “Top Chef”.

He relocated Five and Ten in 2013 from South Lumpkin Street to its present location inside the century-old Hawthorne House on South Milledge Avenue.

In 2010, Acheson opened Southern fine dining restaurant Empire State South on Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta. Three more Atlanta restaurants would follow in By George, Mount Royal, and Spaceman . Acheson departed ownership of the restaurants during the pandemic and is no longer involved with The National.

Since selling Empire State South in 2023, Acheson has taken a further step back from owning and working in restaurants, spending much of his time in New York City and his native Canada closer to his daughters and family. Acheson continues to work as a private chef and makes appearances at culinary events around the country. Michelin-star tasting menu restaurant Lazy Betty took over the Empire State South space at 999 Peachtree earlier this spring.

“Someone should make a family tree of restaurants in Athens because so many people got their start with Hugh or have an indirect connection to him through someone who worked for him,” Dale said. “There’s this new crop of chefs in Athens. It’s cool what they’re doing with food right now. To have Five and Ten in the mix with this next generation is awesome.”

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