The historic Grand Canyon Cafe in Flagstaff, Arizona, shuttered its doors unexpectedly this week less than a year after the Route 66 restaurant reopened following extensive renovations.
The Facebook page for the restaurant posted this message Thursday night:
To Our Valued Guests
and Community:Grand Canyon Cafe has closed.
We want to thank you for your support and loyalty.
Route 66 enthusiast Nick Gerlich on Saturday found a similar message taped on the window of the restaurant.
The website for the restaurant showed no changes Saturday, nor did its Instagram account. A phone call and email to the Grand Canyon Cafe went unanswered.
A group of five local investors bought the restaurant in 2016 from the Wong family, who’d operated it for decades. The restaurant then closed for more-extensive-than-expected renovations and reopened in June 2017.
The new owners kept some menu favorites, such as the chicken fried steak and Chinese food. They kept the neon signs, restored the jukebox, re-upholstered the booths and made the restaurant compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Grand Canyon Cafe marked its 75th anniversary last year. Save for an expansion after World War II, the restaurant had changed little since opening Dec. 18, 1942.
UPDATE: A story a few weeks later in the Arizona Daily Sun stated several factors caused the restaurant to close: a dry winter leading to less tourism, menu changes that irked regular customers, and a minimum-wage increase that hiked costs.
The ownership group now is offering the Grand Canyon Cafe for sale as a turnkey operation.
Dang. That is like if the 21 Club in NYC would close.
Oh no. Someone please fix this.
Went by there the weekend they re-opened and was impressed. Was looking forward to making it a regular stop on my trips between Las Vegas and Albuquerque. Sorry to see it fold.
It was becoming my favorite place here in FLG. Very sad to me. However, the chef/owners have three other places here in town so…we can still eat. (Brix, Criollo, Proper Meats)