Fast-casual restaurant Guzman y Gomez Mexican Kitchen announced on Friday it is exiting the U.S. market and closing all operations across the Chicago area.
Australia-based Guzman y Gomez’s U.S. operations were exclusively in the Chicago area, including a recently opened a location in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood and restaurants in several suburbs including Naperville, Schaumburg, Evanston and Crystal Lake.
The Evanston location had a sign on the door on Friday telling customers of the closure.
“PERMANENTLY CLOSED,” the sign read.
The company announced the closure on social media Friday morning, stating in part “After six years of burritos and big dreams in Chicagoland, we’ve made the difficult decision to close our US restaurants.”
“To every guest who came through our doors – you chose us, and we never took that for granted. To our team – thank you. Your passion and your purpose built something special,” the post said. “If you’re ever in Australia, Singapore or Japan, come find us – we’ll have your favs waiting for you. Chicagoland, Thank you!”
The company said in an Australian Stock Exchange announcement that the decision to close was based on financial performance in the U.S. that “has not been acceptable and is not meeting targeted hurdles.”
“I have always been confident in the differentiation of our food and guest experience, however this was not translating to an improvement in sales momentum. Having spent the last 3 months in the US, I realised this was going to take significantly more time and capital than we had expected. In assessing the trajectory of the current network, the Board and I have concluded that the business is unlikely to deliver the performance that would justify continued investment of shareholder capital,” Founder and Co-CEO Steven Marks said in a statement.
As of Friday, the company’s website opens to a page that reads in part “All GYG USA restaurants permanently closed. Effective from May 22nd, GYG USA restaurants will cease trading.”
