Four restaurant locations — two in Lenawee County, one in Jackson County and one in Washtenaw County — abruptly closed their doors leaving customers confused, frustrated and holding on to thousands of dollars in unused gift cards.
The chain of restaurants as part of JR’s Hometown Grill and Pub are now permanently closed, according to signage posted at each of the restaurant locations in Adrian, Brooklyn, Milan and Tecumseh, and according to owner Robert Loudermilk, who spoke Thursday with The Daily Telegram about the sudden closure of the locations.
Because he was unable to secure long-term financing at the beginning of December, Loudermilk said he continued to bear the weight and burden of increasing debt from the restaurants. That debt, he said, has been growing over the last year-and-a-half — 18 months.
In a notice taped to doors and windows at the restaurants and was shared on social media Jan. 23, Loudermilk said the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic closure along with rebuilding staffing, increasing costs of operations and decreased sales all attributed to the closure of the restaurants. He went on to say in the notice that “I have no option but to close the restaurants.”