Burnt End Barbecue on Amity Road closed down Aug. 26 without prior warning after less than a year of being open, leaving its entire staff jobless.

The restaurant replaced Red Robin in January, which also closed without notice in 2022.

PB&J Restaurants Inc. owns and manages Burnt End BBQ, Yayas Euro Bistro and Red Robin.

Brian Flavin, the chief administrative officer at PB&J, sent an email at 10:30 p.m., Aug. 25, that said, “We regret to inform you that the Conway Burnt End location will close effective August 26, 2024. The decision to close this business was not easy, but due to the current economic situation, it is not possible to continue. Our closing is made more difficult by the loss of excellent and loyal employees.”

Cherokee Fight, a former server and single dad of four, worked his last shift Aug. 23.

He said he received his schedule the same Sunday the restaurant announced its closure.

“Rent was due the following weekend, so to get a schedule with five to seven shifts, I was very excited,” he said.

Fight said he was sitting on the couch with his daughters when he opened the email, and his phone started “blowing up” from the Burnt End servers’ group message, questioning what was happening.

“I was completely shattered,” he said. “I read it, and I had a moment, and I cried with my daughters because I was like, ‘This is not happening. No way.’”

Faith Walker, 23, started working at Burnt End in the spring and worked her last shift Aug. 23.

She said she didn’t see the email until a server sent a screenshot to their group message.

“Everybody thought maybe it had been a mistake somehow,” she said. “I think they were all just shocked, so we were coming up with any explanation other than the one that was right in front of us.”

She said, “It was pretty alarming for sure because, at the time, it was my only source of income, and business had been pretty slow the past couple of months, anyway. The first thing all of us were thinking was, ‘How are we gonna pay our bills? How are we gonna buy groceries?’”

Walker said she has worked at about 10 to 12 restaurants since she was 15. 

“Restaurants are known for a very toxic work environment,” she said. “But this restaurant, I actually remember saying, ‘I’m never gonna quit this job. There’s no reason to ever quit here.’ The people there were great, and I’ve been serving forever.”

Walker said, “I didn’t realize how much it affected me at first, but then it was three days later, and I’d been in bed for three days.”

“I understand not being able to keep a business open because of whatever reason,” she said. “But I would just say, talk about it. If you just sweep it under the rug — it’s just not right that they did it overnight. They could’ve easily given us a notice. They’ve known since the beginning of the fiscal year, most likely.”

She said that after the shutdown, she got her insurance license, has been serving at Olive Garden in Conway and “ended up in a better place financially.”

Fight said there was no indication that the restaurant was planning on closing and that area director Marco Munoz had the employees clean the whole store the same day.

“He knew the whole time,” Fight said. “One of the managers said that as soon as the last person clocked out and left, he looked at her and said, ‘This is our last day, and we’re closing.’ And then he walked out and had her close and locked the doors.”

Fight said he’s been in the restaurant industry for 13 years and has “never seen anything like this.”

“My daughters have not seen me this worried in a long time,” he said. “If I was to quit, or if I was to get fired, it wouldn’t have felt like this. I don’t think that I lost a job, only. I lost the family that I started.”

He said Burnt End was like a second home, and everyone was a “personal therapist” to one another.

“I never once walked into work and dreaded it,” he said. “I love my managers. I love my backline guys, my chefs. I like the employees that came in. I like the guests that came in. I loved it. It was fun. Every day was a good day.”

He said, “Some of us have gotten some jobs. Some of us are still struggling and looking. I know for me and a handful of servers, the first two days were just depressing. I didn’t move off my couch.”

“I have a four-year-old and a two-year-old too, that I had to go almost a week and a half without seeing because I didn’t have gas to get them,” Fight said.

He started training at Fuji Steakhouse on Old Morriliton Highway on Sept. 6.

“Starting in a new job, walking in brand new is always awkward,” he said. “I had one of my friends that put a good word in for me and was able to help me get something started. But I don’t know what my hours are gonna look like. Me being new, I’m not gonna expect to walk in and have a set schedule like I’d like, and that, again, ties into and cuts into my family time.”

Fight said he pulled Flavin aside one day during training in January and asked if what happened to Red Robin would happen to Burnt End.

Fight said, “I said, ‘Hey, so not to be mean or anything, but the last employees that y’all had with Red Robins, you kind of closed the doors open, right? That’s not going to happen here.’

“He said, ‘No, no, I promise you, Burnt End is here to stay. We got good numbers coming in, and we think this is going to be a really, really good spot. So no, don’t have to worry about it.’ And then, it ended up happening.”

“I don’t wish them any harm. I don’t have any ill will towards them besides the fact that — do better,” he said. “It’s kind of deflating that you have to say to a grown man who owns businesses, ‘There’s people out there. We deserve better. We’re human. This isn’t something that you just get to walk away from and not have to worry about.’ I feel like they got away with it with Red Robins, and they should not. They shouldn’t get away with it now.”