Crazy about retail.
https://www.retailwatchers.com/
It's funny you mention "the Kmart of fast casual" considering they own Furr's, which at one point was owned by... Kmart. Funny how things come full circleretailfanmitchell019 wrote: ↑April 28th, 2021, 4:32 pmI'm not surprised that the remaining Ryan's/Hometown/Old Country Buffets have closed for good. COVID has been a very tough time for buffets.SamSpade wrote: ↑April 28th, 2021, 3:14 pm To no one's surprise, the Fresh Acquisitions LLC company has filed (again) for bankruptcy.
It appears locally they have vacated their location, which did have banners about reopening under the "AYCE Marketplace" brand but never did.
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/ ... uptcy.html
Even before COVID, Ovation Brands was struggling, as their buffets had a reputation for low quality food and poor service. In a way, they were the Kmart of fast casual restaurants. During the pandemic, they converted these buffets to AYCE Marketplaces, but they barely got customers in as the pandemic continued on.
I won't miss Hometown Buffet (Ovation brand in my area), a place that sold overpriced cafeteria food.
If you go to http://www.hometownbuffet.com/, the website is down. No closing message like Fry's.
The folks in Oregon probably thought restrictions were being removed too- and now the indoor dining is closed there again.
Probably due to a 29% spike in Covid cases (per Johns Hopkins).storewanderer wrote: ↑April 30th, 2021, 5:36 pm Oregon has banned indoor dining again in more than a dozen counties effective today.
Really surprising to see going backwards here with the push and trend to get things reopened.
That’s how cafeterias like Furr’s and Luby’s used to be, and were nice places to eat, before the AYCE feeding troughs took over.Alpha8472 wrote: ↑April 30th, 2021, 3:49 pm Golden Corral has reopened for indoor dining in California. It is now cafeteria style where you pay first then get a prepackaged utensil package. You walk down a cafeteria food line and tell each person what you want and how much. There is no self serve and servers walk up and ask what drinks you want at your table.
This requires more employees than before.
I am pretty sure many states at this point would not close anything else down or impose any new restrictions. Between states that flat out need the money, defiant citizens, or politicians scared of a recall, there seems to be a big push all around to lift restrictions.
My point was that Oregon is responding to their Covid uptick (one of the few States trending in the wrong direction right now).storewanderer wrote: ↑May 1st, 2021, 11:03 amI am pretty sure many states at this point would not close anything else down or impose any new restrictions. Between states that flat out need the money, defiant citizens, or politicians scared of a recall, there seems to be a big push all around to lift restrictions.