Dining News: 12,000 Reasons The Broiler & Gallagher's Closed
September 09, 2013
To paraphrase former Football star Terrell Owens' publicist, The Broiler's & Gallagher's owner had 12,000 monthly reasons that they had to close. Per Sac Bee's Allen Pierleoni:
The Broiler closed it doors after a long-brewing perfect storm of financial woes that included increasing debt that had accumulated to an average outlay of $12,000 a month, Lords said.
Also, the operation never recovered from the death of Lords’ wife and business partner, Marilou, in August 2012, “the heart and soul of the business,” he said. “She took care of the menus, the guest relations and the staff. I could handle the back of the house fine, but (her part) was starting to slip pretty badly.”
The restaurant, now in Chapter 7 bankruptcy, was battered by the national financial-meltdown years of 2007, 2008 and 2009. “Business steadily fell those three years, by 18 percent, then 22 percent, then 26 percent. I should have closed then, but I figured if I could just keep going long enough, we could get through it and rebuild...”
Over recent years, Lords fell behind on the rent and faced multiple tax liens. “I put everything I had in it to keep it floating,” he said. “I emptied my IRA and sold my wife’s car. There was nothing else I could put in and nowhere I could borrow.”
Pierleoni also reports on a late attempt to sell the restaurant to a new ownership group that fell through.
Read the entire touching story in the Sac Bee.
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