Frisch’s Big Boy closed its Covington restaurant on Sunday − the fourth Cincinnati-area location its owners shuttered in the past week.
Company officials told The Enquirer Monday the restaurant at 520 W. 5th St. in Covington was the last to be targeted in a planned group of closings. They said a fifth location was also closing or had closed, but didn't say where.
"No more - that was part of the group (of closings)," Aziz Hashim, managing partner of Frisch's-owner NRD Capital Partners, told The Enquirer in a message. He said lease expirations as well as financials were a factor in the decision to close the restaurants.
The closings are the latest wave, with the iconic local eatery cutting more than 40 restaurants, or one-third of the 121 locations, since it was acquired by the Atlanta-based investment firm in 2015 for $175 million. The company now lists fewer than 80 stores in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana on its website.
Last week, the Walnut Hills-based diner chain closed at least three regional locations with store officials padlocking doors and posting “permanently closed” signs:
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4016 Dixie Highway, Erlanger
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1575 W. Galbraith Road in North College Hill
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4645 Spring Grove Ave., Spring Grove Village
The summer before it was sold, Frisch's Big Boy owned and operated 95 restaurants and also licensed 26 restaurants to other operators that paid franchise or other fees to the company. Frisch's does not specify which of its current listed locations are owned by the company versus licensed or franchised to other operators.
In 2022, Frisch's hired a new CEO James Walker to steady operations after the company was rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company still boasted more than 100 locations at the time.
In the years after the takeover, Frisch's overhauled menu offerings, modernized (and slimmed down) the iconic Big Boy mascot and updated the look of restaurants with a more open design. The company also reversed a 2013 switch from Coke to Pepsi products.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Frisch's Big Boy in Covington closes, fourth in a week