Recent business closures ‘not unique’ to Sacramento, president of California Restaurant Association says

(FOX40.COM) — One week ago, Buca Di Beppo, which had been at its location in east Sacramento for 25 years , closed its doors for good.

But Jot Condie, the president and CEO of the California Restaurant Association, says while the state is seeing a “spike in restaurant closures” it’s not necessarily unique to Sacramento.

“It’s not just unique to restaurants,” Condie said, adding that many factors contribute to a restaurant having to close its doors, including rising insurance rates, crime stats that affect those rates, and minimum wage increases.

“That’s having an impact. It’s forcing restaurant owners to make decisions they don’t want to make,” Condie said. “There’s a 3-5% profit margin in the restaurant industry…So if you see food costs are going up, insurance rates are going up, utility costs are going up…That eats into 100% of your profit margin.”

But driving along Howe Avenue in east Sacramento, businesses that have caught the eye of longtime residents for decades are now a thing of the past.

Cracker Barrel, which was the first location to open in Northern California six years ago, permanently closed in April. Across the street from there, a Jack-in-the-Box is all boarded up. Additionally, Red Lobster closed in May.

Erika Angelo, assistant manager of Blue House Korean Restaurant, next door to the old Cracker Barrel location, said, “Something’s gotta give and the last thing a restaurant owner wants to do is shut down a location. But that’s what they’re going through.”

Angelo continued, saying restaurants have adjusted worker schedules to pay higher minimum wages, which means moving forward, a typical work shift may not be a full eight hours.

“They only give you like four hours, not like full-time or six hours how they used to,” she said.

FOX40.com reached out to Sacramento County, regarding the string of closures along Howe Avenue, which they say in part:

“ While these closures may seem concerning, the county has not identified any specific trends or underlying issues unique to this area.

It is important to note that these closures involve national chain restaurants, many of which have recently reported closures in other regions as well.

At this time, we are not aware of any prospective businesses taking over these locations.”

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