Big Boy restaurant reopening in Ann Arbor by early November
The "now hiring" signs recently posted at the former Big Boy restaurant on Zeeb Road mean the chain will reopen in the Ann Arbor area.
Big Boy Restaurants will operate the location - just north of the I-94 interchange - as a corporate store, said Jennifer Bourgoin, vice president and general counsel for the Warren-based company.
"And we're very excited about it," she added.
The Big Boy should reopen in early November, Bourgoin said, after hiring is completed and the restaurant is restored to operating condition.
The store closed in August amid chaotic financial issues surrounding its owners, Sam and Bill Berry. The Berrys were evicted in July from their other local Big Boy on Lohr Road and faced a lawsuit over nonpayment of franchise fees on the Zeeb store.
Employees left the Zeeb Road restaurant on Aug. 9 amid assurances that the store would remain open. But overnight the Berrys led a crew of people who dismantled the fixtures - from booths to the water heater and air-handling equipment - and removed all of it in several trucks.
Building owner Jerry Helmer said this morning that equipment has been recovered: "We got everything back."
Now, he added, they're moving it back in and "everything’s going back together … we’re moving on."
The recovery also involved Big Boy officials, lender Comerica Bank and police, Bourgoin said. Some equipment ended up at a restaurant equipment reseller in Metro Detroit, while other pieces had been taken to another vendor for repurposing into a different restaurant's motif.
As a result of the restaurant's dismantling, the investment to restore the building into an operational Big Boy is estimated at several hundred thousand dollars, Bourgoin said.
The Zeeb location will be the 23rd corporate store among at least 140 Big Boy restaurants, Bourgoin said.
The company will take on stores when there's a problem with a franchisee - "and this obviously was a major problem," she said - and the site has been viable.
Hiring is concurrent with Big Boy relaunching a store in Greenville, and at least 80 people will be hired to staff the restaurant.
Comments
slug
Wed, Oct 14, 2009 : 6:39 a.m.
Can we assume that the Berrys are out of the picture for this???
Ryan Munson
Tue, Oct 13, 2009 : 9:37 p.m.
Sit down McDonald's? They do some nice things for the area, but I'd rather see a farm.
bunnyabbot
Tue, Oct 13, 2009 : 7:40 p.m.
The corporate Big Boys always do well. They wouldn't put the money into it if it were not viable. Also they LOVE to do fundraisers and hosting events. It's great marketing and they can afford it more than a franchisee can. at least at this point it is a michigan business. can't say that about walfart
jlkddd
Tue, Oct 13, 2009 : 3:26 p.m.
I hope that they do as much for fundraising efforts for the community. We held a fundraiser for breast cancer there last year and collected quite a bit of money to donate to the American Cancer Society. Hopefully they will still allow events like that to take place.
ownrdgd
Tue, Oct 13, 2009 : 3:04 p.m.
Its not in ann arbor,Its scio township. Ann Arbors city limits is 2 mi east past wagner rd
Indicat
Tue, Oct 13, 2009 : 1:34 p.m.
I hope the corporate Big Boy does as much for the community as the franchised Big Boy did.