A beloved Midwest dining institution is getting smaller. MCL Restaurants & Bakery, the Indianapolis-based cafeteria-style chain that has been feeding families across the region since 1950, is closing several locations this month after years of steadily declining sales that the company says are no longer sufficient to cover operating costs.
The closures affect four locations: 1. Terre Haute, Indiana, 2. Muncie, Indiana, 3. Indianapolis’ Irvington neighborhood and 4. Whitehall, Ohio, just outside Columbus. A March 29 closure date has been confirmed for the Whitehall, Muncie and Irvington locations. When the dust settles, MCL will operate seven remaining restaurants — one in Upper Arlington near Columbus, one in Dayton, and five in the Indianapolis market including Carmel, Avon, Township Line, Castleton and Southside.
A long, slow decline from a stronger era
The closures mark the latest chapter in a contraction that has been unfolding for decades. At its peak in the 1980s and early 1990s, MCL operated approximately 30 locations throughout the Midwest, making it a genuine regional force in family dining. By 2004 that number had fallen to 22, and the slide has continued with quiet consistency ever since — 17 restaurants by the end of 2014, 13 by the end of 2019, and 13 again at the close of 2024, when the chain posted $25.7 million in sales representing a modest 2 percent year-over-year increase according to Technomic data.
The company, which responded to questions through a Facebook post rather than a formal press statement, acknowledged that the decision to close specific locations followed years of declining sales in those particular markets. The Whitehall location was cited directly as a site where revenue was no longer keeping pace with what it costs to keep the doors open.
A family business with deep roots
MCL was founded in 1950 by Charles “Mac” McGaughey and has remained in family hands ever since, now operated by the third generation of the McGaughey family. That continuity is reflected in the food itself — scratch kitchens, family recipes with origins on the farms of Sheridan, Indiana, and a cafeteria-style service model that has remained largely unchanged across seven decades of American dining shifts…