Kings Family Restaurant in Plum closes to make way for new Sheetz

After 48 years in business, another Pittsburgh-area Kings Family Restaurant has closed.

Kings district manager George Brown confirmed that the Kings in Presque Isle Plaza in Plum’s Holiday Park neighborhood closed its doors Monday.

“The plaza has been sold, and the new owner had different plans,” Brown said. “We’re still operating the other locations with no plans to close any other Kings at this time.”

A Sheetz spokesman confirmed the company is planning a store for the former Presque Isle Plaza site but said it was too early to share additional details — including about its plans for the strip mall in the plaza and its existing store about a mile away on Route 286.

The Plum Kings opened in 1974.

Brown said most of the almost 35 employees from the Plum location were able to relocate to other Kings restaurants.

The chain operates eight locations in Western Pennsylvania and one in Wintersville, Ohio.

The only Kings still open in the Alle-Kiski Valley is along Hyde Park Road in Allegheny Township. The next closest is along Northern Pike in Monroeville.

In 2015, San Diego-based Kelly Capital purchased Kings from founder Hartley King.

In 2017, Kings operated more than 25 restaurants in Western Pennsylvania but closed five locations in March that same year. The closures were in Harmar, Wexford, Altoona, Bridgeville and Imperial.

Eight former Western Pennsylvania Kings locations are on the market: Allegheny Township, Kittanning, Monroeville, Monaca, Canonsburg, Somerset, Franklin and Meadville.

Another Kings closed in Salem Township last year. That space is set to become a Piper Bay Cafe.