The Shocking August Announcement That Stunned Savannah
The news hit like a thunderbolt on August 1st, 2025, when Paula Deen announced Friday the abrupt closure of the Savannah restaurant that launched her to fame with its menu of fried chicken, banana pudding, and other indulgent Southern dishes. Visitors who had already made reservations for that evening received unexpected text messages canceling their dinners. Adrienne Morton and her family, visiting Savannah from Cincinnati, had made dinner reservations at Deen’s restaurant for 5:45 p.m. Friday. Morton said she received a text message Friday morning saying her reservation had been canceled.
The restaurant that had become a pilgrimage site for Southern food lovers now had brown paper covering its windows and signs reading “It is with heavy hearts and tremendous gratitude that we announce that we have retired and closed”. For nearly four decades, The Lady & Sons had been synonymous with Paula Deen’s brand, but now it was just another empty building in downtown Savannah.
From The Bag Lady to Culinary Empire
Deen was divorced and nearly broke when she moved to Savannah with her boys in 1989 and started a catering business called The Bag Lady. After her parents died and her marriage failed, Paula found herself battling agoraphobia and facing near homelessness. With her boys in their teens and her family near homelessness, Paula took her last $200, reached deep inside her soul, and started The Bag Lady, a home-based catering company that marked the start of Deen’s professional cooking career.
With sons Jamie and Bobby delivering “lunch-and-love-in-a-bag,” beginning in June 1989, Paula turned around her life by sharing what she knew best—traditional Southern cooking. This humble beginning would eventually grow into a multimillion-dollar empire that made Paula Deen a household name across America.
The Rise Through Best Western to Downtown Glory
Following the success of Deen’s home-based business she took over the restaurant in the Best Western, Abercorn Street, Savannah in 1991 and called it The Lady. This transitional period allowed Paula to test her restaurant concept while building a loyal customer base. The cramped hotel restaurant space couldn’t contain the growing demand for her comfort food classics…