After 27 years, burger chain closes Kansas City area spot. The last one will close soon

It appears Back Yard Burgers is headed to that great grill in the sky.

Owner Gene Scassellati has closed his Independence location of the char-broiled burger chain (15908 E. 23rd St.) and will close his other restaurant in Blue Springs (1900 N.W. Highway 7) on Wednesday.

“I’m retiring,” Scassellati said. “I tried to sell (the restaurants) back to corporate. They seemed interested at first, but then I don’t know what happened. In the end they decided not to do it.”

Back Yard Burgers filed for bankruptcy last year and could soon be ordered to liquidate, according to the Kansas City Business Journal.

The closing of Scassellati’s restaurants will mark the end of Back Yard Burgers’ presence in the Kansas City area. Founded in a Cleveland, Mississippi, grocery store in 1987, the chain entered the local market in Olathe in 1990, growing to nearly a dozen locations in the area.

Scassellati opened his Blue Springs franchise in 1997 and Independence in 2000.

“I liked how different it was than other burger chains,” he said. “It was simple — we cooked the burgers on a grill, we hand-dipped the shakes. We grilled the chicken breasts. The burgers were a little bigger — one-third pound rather than a quarter-pound. People seemed to like it.”

The company’s growth — Back Yard Burgers once boasted 160 locations across the country — led to turmoil among its leadership, ultimately resulting in a 2012 bankruptcy filing. The company reorganized and downsized, shuttering dozens of locations at a time when other fast-casual premium burger startups like Five Guys and Shake Shack were on the rise.

The bankruptcies affected local restaurants like Scassellati’s, he said, in terms of food prices. “Business has been good, but we could have done even better with support (from corporate),” he said.

Scassellati owned both buildings where the restaurants were located. He has since sold them and said he is not sure what the new owner plans to do there.

According to its website, only 10 Back Yard Burgers remain in the U.S.