El Chico Restaurant Closes

JJ’S GRILL N CHILL TO HONOR CLOSED EATERIES’ GIFT CARDS

The Fayetteville El Chico closed Monday night, the latest restaurant casualty in a down economy.

“Sales are down. There’s not enough money to go around,” said Christy Seastrunk, human resources director for El Chico Restaurants of Arkansas in Texarkana, Texas.

The firm owned the Fayetteville El Chico at 3854 N. Front St., along with Applebee’s restaurants in Springdale and Fayetteville.

Former El Chico employees will be offered jobs at those Applebee’s restaurants. Seastrunk said whether to take jobs at the franchisee’s other restaurants was up to the employees. She did not know Tuesday how many Fayetteville El Chico employees would be unemployed.

El Chico restaurants of Arkansas owns El Chicos in Conway and El Dorado, and also operates El Chico and Applebee’s restaurants in Texas and Louisiana.

The closest El Chico is at 5215 Rogers Ave. in Fort Smith, according to www.elchico.com.

Local residents who have El Chico gift cards can use them at JJ’s Grill N Chill at 4500 W. Walnut St. behind Starbucks in Rogers and along Steamboat Drive off Wedington Drive in Fayetteville.

JJ’s owner Jody Thornton confirmed Tuesday night his two businesses will honor El Chico gift cards up to $50.

“The main reason that we did it is it’s a slower time of the year and a lot of people are closing, so we want to do everything we can,” said Ryan Lewis, JJ’s manager.

Honoring a closed restaurant’s gift cards helps customers get something for their money and gets them through JJ’s doors, Lewis said.

Customers who try JJ’s Grill N Chill might return to spend their own money in the future, Lewis said.

The local El Chico paid $7,180 in taxes to the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission from December 2008 through October 2009, according to the commission’s figures. The taxes paid put El Chico at 85th on the list of 306 restaurants in Fayetteville.

Fayetteville collects a 2 percent tax on hotels, motels, restaurants and prepared foods.

El Chico had a Fayetteville location since the early 1980s. The local restaurant was remodeled in summer 2005, including adding a patio area to seat 60 people, new carpet and updated decor. Owners at the time did not disclose remodeling costs.

Restaurant closings come as 46 percent of American households report eating out less often, according to a 2009 The Nielsen Co. survey.

“The upside of a recession is that we come together around the kitchen table to share our meal and our day, taking comfort in the safe harbor of home,” Jeffrey S. Gregori, vice president of solutions consulting for The Nielsen Co., wrote in a Nov. 2 report.

Consumers spend more time on meal planning and buy more prepared meals at grocery stores to eat at home, according to Gregori’s research.

For example, the average household spent $500 on deli items through September, a 5 percent increase from 2008, Gregori’s report stated.

El Chico is the second Fayetteville restaurant closure within two weeks.

Tricorp Management, based in Chesterfield, Mo., closed T.G.I. Friday’s on Dec. 14. That restaurant opened in early 2006 with a 5,900-square-foot building on about two acres at 3619 N. Mall Ave. in Fayetteville.

T.G.I. Friday’s had about 100 employees, did about half the expected business and had the lowest sales of Tricorp Management’s 13 restaurants, said Steve Bell, Tricorp president.

JJ’s Grill N Chill is honoring T.G.I. Friday’s gift cards up to $50, Lewis said.

Chili’s Grill & Bar at 4101 W. Sunset Ave. in Springdale closed in February after being open since April 2007. The Chili’s closing left about 55 people out of work.

Kim Souza contributed to this report.

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