Old Country Buffet in Northlake abruptly closes

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Old Country Buffet, 139 W. North Ave., Northlake, was abruptly closed Wednesday after its parent corporation in Minnesota declared bankruptcy. | Mark Lawton/Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 27, 2012 8:13AM

Old Country Buffet restaurant in Northlake abruptly closed Wednesday after its parent corporation declared bankruptcy.

Representatives from Buffets Inc, of Eagan, Minn. came into the restaurant at 139 W. North Ave. on Wednesday and told general manager Terry Brown that the restaurant was being closed.

The corporation declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier that day in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware in an effort to restructure, said Melissa Sheer of the public relations firm Kekst in New York City.

The Northlake restaurant wasn’t alone. Buffets Inc had decided to close down 81 restaurants, about 16 percent of its total, nationwide.

Other Chicago area locations to close are Old Country Buffets in Countryside, Lombard, Naperville, Joliet and West Dundee. Other Illinois closures are the Old Country Buffet in Bradley and Hometown Buffet in Fairview.

“Those restaurants are underperforming restaurants,” Sheer said.

In recent times, the Northlake restaurant had tried coupons, advertising and selling beverage separately.

“We weren’t as busy as some of them,” Brown said. “We’re down this year versus last by about 15 or 16 percent.”

The Northlake restaurant employed about 40 people, full and part time, Brown said.

The corporation, headquartered in the Minneapolis suburbs, had also declared bankruptcy in 2008 and emerged from it in 2009. Under that agreement, there were restrictions on closing restaurants.

“Now those have been eliminated,” Sheer said. “That’s why the stores are closing at this time.”

In the short term, the closing of Old Country Buffet will mean a loss of sales-tax revenue to Northlake. In the longer term, however, 2nd Ward Alderman Thomas Padilla thinks it could be to the city’s advantage.

“We’ve been trying to get Wal-Mart (located next door) to expand to a full-service Wal-Mart,” Padilla said. “We’ve been trying for quite a few years to do that.

“This might be a good opportunity to negotiate with them.”

The Buffets chain has restaurants in 38 states.