Houlihan’s in Gambrills will be latest restaurant to close
Chain’s location hit hard by coronavirus restrictions
Houlihan’s Waugh Chapel, part of a national restaurant and bar chain that declared bankruptcy and was sold last year, announced late last week that it would close permanently on Sunday.
The statement posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page last week cited restrictions placed on restaurants to slow the spread of the coronavirus and the lasting financial impact of the virus this year. It is one of a number of restaurants and bars in Anne Arundel County that have closed either permanently or temporarily as the pandemic and the risk of transmission while dining has slowed business.
“We wanted to take a moment to say thank you for all of the support you have given our restaurant over these last 8 years. The walls will forever be filled with the sounds of laughter and good times that we all shared, the many milestones that we helped you celebrate and the friendships and bonds that were built,” restaurant management wrote.
Anne Arundel County issued an order earlier this month ending table service at restaurants for four weeks, but it was temporarily halted by a county judge after four restaurant owners challenged its legality. A hearing on the order is set for Monday.
One of those companies, Titan Hospitality in Crofton, announced just before the legal challenge was filed that it would close its Blackwall Hitch and Smashing Grapes locations in Annapolis, but hours later reversed course and said it would keep them open until the judge makes a final ruling.
Houlihan’s in Gambrills is the second Maryland location for the chain to announce a closing, both of them franchise locations owned by the same partnership. The company closed its location in Elkridge early in December.
Dan Stevens, a partner in the company that owns the locations, said after the Elkridge closing that the coronavirus pandemic was the main reason for permanently shuttering the location Sunday.
“Between the safety concerns and the restrictions, we never were able to operate at 50% of normal business, even after indoor dining was allowed,” Stevens wrote in an email to The Baltimore Sun. “Prior to indoor dining coming back, the revenue numbers were off even more. Restaurants can’t operate long term at that level of revenue deficits.”
The posting on Facebook offered a similar assessment.
“The increasing concerns regarding indoor dining along with the devastating economic impact the 2020 pandemic has had, and continues to have, on the hospitality industry (restaurants in particular) has made it impossible to continue to do business any longer,” the company wrote.
Texas-based HRI, the former parent company of Houlihan’s, was purchased in 2019 by Landry’s, a Kansas-based restaurant chain after a bankruptcy filing last year. The new owners closed a dozen locations in January.