Peter Dale, owner of the Five & Ten, describes this room as “one of his favorites,” saying the intimate feel of eating alongside the secluded windows creates a unique experience for diners, especially regulars. Each week, a local vendor brings flower arrangements, adding fresh greenery throughout the space. (Photo/Kara-Marie Mitchell).
At Athens’ Five & Ten, owner Peter Dale preserves a piece of the city’s history while building a legacy of his own.
Five & Ten is located at 1073 S. Milledge Ave., and features menu items directly tied to its past. One item featured on the dinner menu is Frogmore Stew, a seafood soup dish that the founder, Hugh Acheson, began serving years ago.
While the building now welcomes guests looking for a meal, it once served a very different purpose, its walls filled with stories most do not hear.
Folks will come in and say, ‘Oh, I lived here in college, in like the 70s and 80s,’” Dale said. “This was apparently like separate apartments, like a long time ago.”
Dale prepares the restaurant for opening, lighting candles throughout the space to create a relaxed ambiance for guests. This room, believed to once be a living room, now welcomes diners at Five & Ten. (Photo/Kara-Marie Mitchell)
He makes Five & Ten his own while surrounding himself with remnants of the past, preserving a history he believes is essential to success. He points out original wallpaper and doors, old bedroom layouts, bathroom spaces turned into wine closets and other pieces of a story that began long before restaurant tables and bartops filled the house.
Dale shows off the building’s original wallpaper on Oct. 5, 2026. Before becoming a restaurant, the building housed a collection of apartments. (Photo/Kara-Marie Mitchell)
His return to Athens was not always part of the plan.
I grew up in Athens. I went to school here,” Dale said. “I think as a kid, if you told me, ‘Oh, you’re going to live in Athens your whole life,’ I would have thought I failed.”
Sitting in what is believed to have once been a bedroom, Dale discusses how family holidays shaped his love for food and hospitality. Dale says his family’s “famous Thanksgivings” played an essential role in his decision to leave Washington, D.C. to pursue a career in the restaurant industry. (Photo/Kara-Marie Mitchell)
Athens has long been recognized for its entertainment and unique atmosphere. The environment drew Dale back to Athens after graduating from the University of Georgia in 1999 and moving off to Washington, D.C. soon after.
Dale meets with staff before opening each day to review menu knowledge, discuss last-minute changes and go over important things for the evening, such as reservations or regular guests. Front-of-the-house manager, Ida Barett, and server, Danny Martin, participate in “Line Up,” their pre-shift management meeting on Oct. 5, 2026. (Photo/Kara-Marie Mitchell)
His name may not be familiar to many, but his businesses are. Dale has helped shape the Athens food scene for years through well-known restaurants such as Maepole, Seabear, Condor Chocolates and The National.
A new bar menu is set to debut at Five & Ten in the coming weeks. Dale discusses how bartenders will soon begin training under the new menu, creating an ever-changing experience for guests at the restaurant. (Photo/Kara-Marie Mitchell)
These local restaurants are a part of a larger trend in Athens-Clarke County. According to the National Restaurant Association, eating and drinking out in Athens-Clarke County in 2025 generated around $1.69 billion. Because of this, around 14,600 industry jobs were supported.
Athens-Clarke County residents and University of Georgia students have helped create a supportive environment for Dale and the rest of the food industry.
Many of the decorative pieces reflect the restaurant’s past, including artwork from the original Five & Ten location on South Lumpkin Street, partially visible in the upper right corner. The poster, which reads “A New Turn in the South,” references a cookbook with the same title written by the founder, Acheson. (Photo/Kara-Marie Mitchell).
Returning to Athens, for Dale, meant returning to the community he always called home. It meant joining a community which shaped his entire life, from childhood through his undergraduate years, all while creating something new of his own.
While he did not originally open Five & Ten, it has become a fundamental part of Dale’s story, just as Dale has become part of the building’s. The building may have had changed purposes, but Dale has made sure to protect the stories etched onto the walls.
Dining and Cooking