Frisch's Big Boy closes 3 restaurants, cutting a third of locations in 9 years
Frisch’s Big Boy has shuttered at least three Greater Cincinnati locations this week with store officials padlocking doors and posting “permanently closed” signs.
The new closures are only the latest wave, with the iconic local eatery cutting more than 40 restaurants, or one third of its total locations, since it was acquired by an Atlanta-based investment firm in 2015.
The summer before it was sold, Frisch's Big Boy owned and operated 95 restaurants and also licensed 26 restaurants to other operators that paid franchise or other fees to the company. The company now lists less than 80 stores in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana on its website. Frisch's does not specify which of its current listed locations are owned by the company versus licensed or franchised to other operators.
Frisch’s officials declined to comment on the closures on Wednesday as did representatives of NRD Capital Partners, the private equity firm that bought out the chain of 121 restaurants for $175 million.
The latest closures are:
4016 Dixie Highway, Erlanger
1575 W. Galbraith Road in North College Hill
4645 Spring Grove Ave., Spring Grove Village
Enquirer journalists visited each location Wednesday morning to confirm the closures.
Frisch's has seen a number of changes and confronted industry turmoil since it changed ownership.
In 2022, Frisch's hired a new CEO James Walker to steady operations after the company was rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Walnut Hills-based company still boasted more than 100 locations at the time. The company's web site shows 79 restaurants now.
In the years after the takeover, Frisch's overhauled menu offerings, modernized (and slimmed down) the iconic Big Boy mascot and updated the look of restaurants with a more open design. The company also reversed a 2013 switch from Coke to Pepsi products.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Frisch's Big Boy closes restaurants in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky
