Corporate office has confirmed what a sign on Smokey Bones’ front door on April 28 indicated: the restaurant has closed.
“All Smokey Bones locations have ceased operations,” Erin Mandzik, senior director of corporate communications at FAT Brands, stated in an email to The State Journal-Register April 29.
FAT (Fast, Authentic and Tasty) Brands is the parent company of Smokey Bones.
An employee of the barbecue restaurant told a State Journal-Register reporter on April 28 that restaurant was closed for business that day, and that “we may be open tomorrow, but we may be permanently closed.”
The employee, who didn’t want to give his name, also acknowledged that the restaurant might be working through a sale.
It appeared that inventory that had been taken out earlier in the day was being returned to the restaurant by a number of employees Tuesday afternoon.
Last June, FAT Brands which is behind food chains like Fazoli’s and Fatburger, announced it was shifting business models for Smokey Bones.
The shift in business included plans to close several current Smokey Bones locations and convert them into Twin Peaks, an adult-themed sports bar similar to Hooters, that operated briefly on Springfield’s west side.
But FAT Brands entered chapter 11 on January 26 and that filing included Twin Hospitality Group, the public company that owned Twin Peaks and Smokey Bones.
FAT Brands had an auction scheduled for April 28.
Smokey Bones began the year with two locations in Illinois, but the Rockford location closed in January, leaving Springfield as the only remaining in the state.
A number of empty restaurants, including Hooters and The Dew Chilli Parlor, sit in proximity to Smokey Bones.
Originally owned by Darden Restaurants Inc., Smokey Bones arrived in the capital city on the heels of its then-sister restaurants Red Lobster and Olive Garden. Both of those restaurants still operate in Springfield.
Red Lobster Investor Holdings CEO Damola Adamolekun was raised in Springfield. The 37-year-old entrepreneur was born in Nigeria and raised in Zimbabwe and the Netherlands before coming to the U.S.
(This story has been updated with new information and the correct a typo.)
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Barbecue restaurant on Springfield’s southeast side has closed
Reporting by Steven Spearie, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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