As soon as fashionable buffet chains have been fading within the restaurant sector when the Covid-19 pandemic prompted eating institutions to undertake stricter meals security tips.
Meals security consciousness throughout the Covid-19 pandemic additionally modified shoppers’ attitudes towards eating, which led to the demise of a number of buffet restaurant chains.
Among the many buffet chains to vanish because of the Covid-19 pandemic have been buffet associates HomeTown Buffet, Outdated Nation Buffet, and Ryan’s, which have been owned by Recent Acquisitions LLC.
Buffet eating places closed after chapter submitting
The mum or dad firm was devastated by the pandemic and compelled to file for Chapter 11 chapter in April 2021 to shut and liquidate sure of its belongings, Nation’s Restaurant Information reported on the time.
Earlier than the collapse of the buffet restaurant sector because of the pandemic, one other related restaurant idea, Southern cafeteria eating places, started to vanish within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineteen Nineties as shoppers’ restaurant preferences shifted to eating at informal chains, akin to Applebee’s or TGI Fridays.
Morrison’s chain declined from 151 places to 1
The grandaddy of all cafeteria-style eating places was Morrison’s, which opened in 1920 in Cellular, Ala., and expanded to 151 places at its peak. The chain’s reputation declined within the 80s and 90s, and the corporate was bought in 1998 to Piccadilly Cafeterias, in accordance with AL.com.
Piccadilly rebranded a lot of the Morrison’s places, and the unique Cellular location is its final remaining restaurant after 105 years in enterprise.
One other fashionable Southern consolation meals restaurant chain, Okay&W Cafeterias LLC, went one step additional than Morrison’s and shut down all of its places.
Okay&W Cafeterias closed all of its restaurant places 5 years after submitting for chapter.
Shutterstock
Okay&W Cafeterias completely closes all places
Okay&W Cafeterias, which filed for chapter safety in 2020, closed all 9 of its remaining eating places on Dec. 1, 2025, in accordance with the corporate’s Fb web page.
The 88-year-old restaurant chain’s web site included its farewell message that it posted on its places’ entrance doorways.
“We are sorry to announce that after proudly serving this and many other communities for years, K&W Holdings Group LLC will be closed permanently. All existing locations closed effective 12/1/2025. We thank you for your support throughout our years in business. K&W Holdings Management.”
Okay&W Cafeterias closed eight places in North Carolina and one in Virginia.
Okay&W Cafeterias firm milestones:
- Okay&W Cafeterias based 1937.
- Operates as much as 35 places earlier than 2020.
- Operates 18 places following Covid-19 pandemic.
- Operates 11 places in 2022.
- Closes remaining 9 eating places on Dec. 1, 2025.
The Winston-Salem, N.C.-based firm, nonetheless, has not revealed the way it will redeem reward playing cards that it was promoting on the market for the vacations earlier than it shut down all of its places.
Okay&W Cafeterias LLC, Okay&W Holdings Group LLC, and Okay&W Holdings Administration haven’t filed for chapter safety following the restaurant closures, eventually verify.
Extra closings:
- Main trucking firm closes Residence Depot distribution facility
- 63-year-old bankrupt retail chain closes all shops completely
- Low cost retail chain closes half its retailer places
The cafeteria-style restaurant chain, which was based in 1937, had grown to as many as 35 eating places earlier than the Covid-19 pandemic devastated the corporate, WilmingtonBiz reported, forcing it to file for Chapter 11 chapter in September 2020.
The restaurant chain declined to 18 places as soon as the pandemic subsided, dropped additional to 11 eating places in 2022, after which to 9 simply earlier than closing the enterprise.
Okay&W Cafeterias’ menu included such gadgets as roast beef, fried hen, baked spaghetti, roast turkey, and whitefish.
Okay&W Cafeterias’ menu gadgets:
- Roast Beef Fried Rooster
- Grilled Chopped Steak
- Rooster Fingers
- Grilled Rooster Breast with Onions
- Baked Rooster
- Rooster Livers
- Beef Liver
- Nation Model Steak
- Baked Spaghetti
- Rooster Pan Pie
- Roast Turkey
- Cuban Rooster with Black Bean Salsa
- Whitefish
Associated: 80-year-old Residence Depot rival completely closes location
