Knuckies Expands in North Fulton as Medley Johns Creek Adds Another Fast-Casual Concept

A growing sandwich chain with origins in the Southeast is preparing to enter Johns Creek as part of the larger Medley mixed-use development, bringing cheesesteaks, hoagies, craft sodas and a more upscale store design to one of the region’s most closely watched retail projects.

Knuckies Sandwiches and Sips is expected to open at Medley later this year at 4108 Medley Boulevard in Johns Creek, according to information first reported by Business Debut and additional details published by the company itself. The restaurant is expected to join the broader Medley opening wave, adding another fast-casual dining option to the emerging Town Center district.

The Johns Creek location appears positioned as more than just another sandwich shop.

Company materials describe the Medley restaurant as an updated evolution of the brand, combining its existing hoagie and cheesesteak menu with expanded chef-driven offerings, house-made sauces, rotating brunch items and a separate “Sips” beverage program centered around craft-style dirty sodas and flavored fountain drinks.

That combination reflects a broader suburban dining trend now spreading across North Fulton and South Forsyth, where newer fast-casual concepts are increasingly trying to blur the line between traditional counter-service restaurants and more experience-oriented neighborhood hangouts.

Medley Continues Building a More Regional Dining Mix

The arrival of Knuckies adds another layer to Medley’s attempt to build a destination-oriented retail and restaurant environment near Johns Creek City Hall and the future Town Center area.

Rather than relying entirely on national chains, Medley has been assembling a mix of regional brands, entertainment concepts and lifestyle-driven dining operators aimed at North Fulton’s higher-income suburban audience.

Knuckies itself already operates locations across Georgia, Oklahoma, North Carolina and South Carolina, including existing North Fulton-area restaurants in Milton along Crabapple Road and on Windward Parkway near Alpharetta.

The new Johns Creek restaurant will become the company’s 10th location.

That existing local footprint likely gives the company an advantage entering Medley. Many North Fulton residents already know the brand from Alpharetta and Milton lunch traffic.

The Menu Goes Beyond Traditional Hoagies

While the restaurant is still centered around sandwiches and cheesesteaks, the Medley location appears designed to broaden the concept.

Menus associated with the brand include traditional cold sandwiches like turkey and Swiss, roast beef and provolone, Italian subs and chicken salad, alongside cheesesteaks, Cuban sandwiches and loaded specialty sandwiches with ingredients like chimichurri, Korean barbecue sauce, chipotle mayo and smoked bacon.

The restaurant also offers chopped salad versions of many sandwiches, combo meals, cookies and banana pudding.

But one of the more unusual additions is the “Sparkraft” soda line, a dirty soda concept featuring customizable flavored drinks with combinations involving coconut, lime, vanilla cream, peach, mango and cherry syrups.

Dirty soda concepts — long popular in parts of the Mountain West — have been slowly expanding into suburban Sun Belt markets, particularly among younger consumers and family-oriented dining corridors.

In North Fulton and South Forsyth, where boba shops, specialty coffee chains, ube-flavored desserts and highly visual social-media-driven drink concepts have rapidly expanded in recent years, the beverage-focused addition may help the brand stand out inside an increasingly crowded fast-casual field.

A Different Kind of Fast-Casual Expansion

The restaurant’s marketing language repeatedly emphasizes phrases like “built different” and “this isn’t fast food,” signaling the company is trying to position itself slightly above traditional quick-service sandwich chains.

Photos from existing locations show lighter modern interiors, reclaimed wood design elements and dine-in seating that feels closer to newer boutique fast-casual brands than older sub-shop layouts.

That approach aligns with a larger suburban development pattern now visible across Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Halcyon, Avalon and South Forsyth, where restaurants increasingly compete not just on food, but on atmosphere, branding and social-media appeal.

For Medley, that matters.

The project is expected to compete not only with older Johns Creek shopping centers, but also with established North Fulton lifestyle districts that already draw evening and weekend traffic from across the suburbs.

Why Johns Creek Matters for Regional Chains

Johns Creek has become one of metro Atlanta’s more attractive suburban expansion markets for emerging restaurant brands.

The city combines high household incomes, strong school clusters, dense youth sports traffic and a growing mixed-use development pipeline — all factors restaurant groups increasingly prioritize.

The Medley area in particular sits near heavily traveled corridors connecting Johns Creek, Alpharetta and South Forsyth, giving operators access to multiple suburban customer bases without needing an Atlanta intown location.

That dynamic has accelerated in recent years as many regional chains now prioritize affluent suburban growth corridors over dense urban expansion.

For smaller emerging brands, North Fulton often offers strong demographics with lower operational complexity than Buckhead, Midtown or West Midtown.

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• Medley Will Add a 150-Room Hotel to Its Town Center Vision
• Johns Creek’s Next Boom: Business Developments, Openings, and the Town Center Transformation

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North Atlanta Star

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The North Atlanta Star reports and edits useful, independent journalism for communities across North Fulton, South Forsyth and northeast Gwinnett.

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