Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Houlihan's Closing

In case you missed this in the Southern,  Houlihan's, out on Reed Station Road, closed today and will reopen on April 1 (assuming this is not a April Fool's joke).  From what I have heard, the restaurant will re-open under the name Boondocks with no change in ownership or management, ergo, no need for a liquor license application.  Steak & seafood will still be the focus of the menu.

Despite what it says in the article, either Brown or Houlihan's had to be dissatisfied with the franchise operation as, according to this, the contract for a Houlihan's franchise is 20 years, meaning this one still had eleven years to run.   Speaking based upon years of studying retailing, franchise contracts typically make it very easy for the frachisor (Houlihan's) to pull a franchise and very costly for the franchisee to end the contract.Re-opening it as a non-franchise operation does mean that Brown will automatically add 4% (the amount of the annual franchise fee) to the restaurant's bottom line.

2 comments:

  1. Is Boondocks now closed too?

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  2. Not that I am aware of, but the business is supposed to have a "management meeting" this week.

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