Hamburger Patties closed for the last time on Labor Day. Now, we know why.

First, via Mark Anderson in the Sac Biz Journal:

One of the owners, David Mansch, said after having difficulty negotiating a new lease, the owners of the restaurant just decided to call it a good 19-year run and shut down rather than try to move...

The owners have been working to find places for the 20 employees, and there are a lot of restaurants absorbing the employees, he said.

The business at Hamburger Patties remained strong, Mansch said, but the lease was over.

Read the entire story in the Sac Biz Journal.

That's not the same exact answer he gave Mark Glover in the Sac Bee.

Asked why the restaurant was closing now, Mansch, who operated Hamburger Patties with Richard Boriolo, sighed and said: “Twenty years is enough. It’s just time.”

Mansch cited a litany of stress-inducing factors that added up over time. The restaurant was facing lease expiration, customer traffic is down from the pre-recession heyday and running a restaurant is a perpetual sprint of supplying, employing and maintaining.

Read the entire story in the Sac Bee.

Finally, Reddit commenter BurritoFueled added this rumor: (Note: I call this a rumor since it's unverified. Please take it with a grain of salt.)

Friend that works there says they haven't been turning a profit for awhile now. The owners were planning on closing at the end of the year but couldn't make it even that long. They literally made the decision to shut the doors early within the last couple days

I gotta think that having the Squeeze Inn open nearby hasn't helped the restaurant side, and the rapidly expanding, concentrated nightlife options in Lavender Heights are discouraging what was their core demographic from an area with not as much going on.

Read the entire thread on Reddit.

In any case, the restaurant is gone. I had only eaten there once to get their happy hour, so I'm not nostalgic about the place. But I do look forward to whatever exciting restaurant replaces it.

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