Restaurant closings

[MagzOK]

Noticed that all signage on Black Rifle Coffee Company has been removed on their N Penn location. I thought that was interesting as it always had people and veterans in there hanging out drinking coffee, etc. Their FB pages shows "temporarily closed" with no other details.

[ManAboutTown]

Greg Horton is reporting on Facebook that Equity Brewing in Norman will be closing when their lease expires in July.

[jedicurt]

Greg Horton is reporting on Facebook that Equity Brewing in Norman will be closing when their lease expires in July.

this was a long time coming. i know some on here will say this is another sign that the craft brewery scene in OKC metro is dying. but this is another case of an owner making terrible decisions that result in a failing business.

[FighttheGoodFight]

this was a long time coming. i know some on here will say this is another sign that the craft brewery scene in OKC metro is dying. but this is another case of an owner making terrible decisions that result in a failing business.

I would say it is just competition for breweries within Norman. The best survive and have a dedicated client base. 405, Lazy Circles, Crossed Cannons, BIG and Legally seem like enough breweries to fill the town of Norman.

[jedicurt]

I would say it is just competition for breweries within Norman. The best survive and have a dedicated client base. 405, Lazy Circles, Crossed Cannons, BIG and Legally seem like enough breweries to fill the town of Norman.

yes. but Equity had a solid client base, and then some questionable business practices came to light and all of the following happened at the same time... they lost almost their entire staff, Legally (who was brewing and selling out of Equity) decided to up and leave early and before their own taproom was finished, and a whole group of solid multi time a week customers (myself included) all left and haven't stepped foot back in there. They lost their client bases due to bad decisions by management, and it was the event that is leading to the issues now.

[CatholicSooner]

yes. but Equity had a solid client base, and then some questionable business practices came to light and all of the following happened at the same time... they lost almost their entire staff, Legally (who was brewing and selling out of Equity) decided to up and leave early and before their own taproom was finished, and a whole group of solid multi time a week customers (myself included) all left and haven't stepped foot back in there. They lost their client bases due to bad decisions by management, and it was the event that is leading to the issues now.

sounds juicy...any more details?

[borchard]

I would say it is just competition for breweries within Norman. The best survive and have a dedicated client base. 405, Lazy Circles, Crossed Cannons, BIG and Legally seem like enough breweries to fill the town of Norman.

We went to Equity right after it opened. I remember neither of us were really impressed. I guess I just thought that being in a city the size of Norman, especially with a large university population to draw from that even a "decent" brewery could stay open? Also, in comparison, Bend, OR has 26 microbreweries with a population not much larger than Norman. I'm always wondering if we can ever get CLOSE to something like that? Can you imagine Norman, OK with 26 microbreweries?

[SEMIweather]

The culture of Bend is very different from the culture of Norman.

[bison34]

We went to Equity right after it opened. I remember neither of us were really impressed. I guess I just thought that being in a city the size of Norman, especially with a large university population to draw from that even a "decent" brewery could stay open? Also, in comparison, Bend, OR has 26 microbreweries with a population not much larger than Norman. I'm always wondering if we can ever get CLOSE to something like that? Can you imagine Norman, OK with 26 microbreweries?

As stated, you cannot compare beer-loving Oregonians to Oklahomans. It is a whole different world up there. They worship craft beer up in Oregon.

[Soonerinfiniti]

Oregon craft beer struggling as well.....

https://www.opb.org/article/2024/01/...more-closures/

[SoonerDave]

Not *purely* OKC, but the OK Tax Commission has closed Hurts Donuts on Campus Corner in Norman for non-payment of taxes.

I went down there a few weeks ago for an Apple Pie Donut and it was awful. I knew that location had changed owners and had been remodeled, but going in the only changes looked like they shrank the display case by about half and nothing looked very appealing.

[cook94]

The Grove Bar in Midtown closed at some point in the past couple of weeks.

They have a post on Instagram asking for investors or buyers.

[Pete]

^

The Midtown shakeup continues:

Grove Bar
Sunset (to be rebranded by current operators)
Cafe do Brasil
1492
Louie's
Ludavine
City Garden
Capitals Ice Cream (replaced by Roxy's)

[warreng88]

Didn't realize Roxy's was going into the Capital's space was going to be Roxy's until yesterday when we drove by last night.

[ManAboutTown]

The Grove Bar in Midtown closed at some point in the past couple of weeks.

They have a post on Instagram asking for investors or buyers.

Their last post other than the one regarding investors was posted waaay back on November 7th. Were they even open during the holidays? Going almost 4 months without an Insta post can't be good for business.

[Oski]

The Grove Bar in Midtown closed at some point in the past couple of weeks.

They have a post on Instagram asking for investors or buyers.

I kinda knew it when it was still a plan, why would you need another bar when there are 10 other (better) options around?

[Dr Beard Face]

The Grove Bar in Midtown closed at some point in the past couple of weeks.

They have a post on Instagram asking for investors or buyers.

That seems so fast! I thought it looked cute, but never saw many people there.

[ManAboutTown]

That seems so fast! I thought it looked cute, but never saw many people there.

I went there once with a buddy. We weren't impressed. They did a nice job renovating the space and a better operator might be able to make money there.

[Hypon]

Sorry if this has already been posted, but it appears that Quazi Islam, owner of The Drum Room, is trying to find prospective buyers on Facebook Marketplace.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...0562729506530/

[ManAboutTown]

Ragin Cajun in Bricktown is closing effective today.

[Ginkasa]

Sorry if this has already been posted, but it appears that Quazi Islam, owner of The Drum Room, is trying to find prospective buyers on Facebook Marketplace.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...0562729506530/

Is that common to sell a restaurant via Facebook Marketplace?

[Mountaingoat]

Ragin Cajun in Bricktown is closing effective today.

At first I was thinking this was the Pearl's owned place. I know this was a chain but hate to see any place fail.

[Jeepnokc]

Ragin Cajun in Bricktown is closing effective today.

We looked at the menu one time to go there. It didn't look inviting. 25% autograt on large parties, absolutely no substitutions (tells you twice) and we will throw you out if you disrespect out staff. If you have all this on your menu, makes me think the in house service will be the same.

[Martin]

We looked at the menu one time to go there. It didn't look inviting. 25% autograt on large parties, absolutely no substitutions (tells you twice) and we will throw you out if you disrespect out staff. If you have all this on your menu, makes me think the in house service will be the same.

oh my goodness... i had to see it for myself and it's all right there. i especially liked, "this is a family owned business" followed by "sauce that shyt up" (sic) in big red letters.

[Urbanized]

I was brought up to never speak ill of the dead, but I’ll make a minor exception here. And to be clear, I am disappointed they didn't make it and I feel for everyone impacted.

That said, I can tell you now that every time someone told me the place was still open I was legitimately shocked. Tried eating there twice, and while the food was OK, what was going on inside the place was shocking from an industry best practices standpoint. Including things like having chairs on top of unused tables during business hours. The hours had no reliability, and probably 8 times out of 10 that I or someone I knew tried to visit, the business was completely closed. Closed during peak times, and in a condition that would be very easy to interpret as being totally out of business. Completely disinterested servers and counter staff. I could go on and on, but I’ll just say that this one can 100% be chalked up to an operator who was out of their depth.

This was not a market-driven closure, or if it was, it was due to staffing issues, which most surviving operators have largely sorted through by now.