Bye Bye B&G: Local Restaurant Closes its Doors After More Than 60 Years of Business

Will Eikenbary, Journalism Hallway Coordinator|May 2, 2019

Parts of the B&G restaurant, such as this sign, have begun to be sold in order to prepare for the restaurant’s closing.

B&G Tasty Foods, a local Omaha restaurant, recently announced that they would be closing their doors on May 27, 2019 after 66 years. Current owner of B&G Tasty Foods, Eddie Morin, stated in a post on B & G Tasty Food’s Facebook page that the decision was a hard one to make, but that it was an honor to serve the Omaha area.

“[As of right now] the decision to close is 100 percent official,” Morin said. “It’s kind of tough…I started here in 2001 as a cook. I kept doing that and then at some point I started working out front too. I sort of…eased into scheduling and hiring because there wasn’t anyone else to do it. In 2009, I bought it from the previous owner and I’ve owned it ever since.”

Morin said that he has had many offers to buy B&G Tasty Foods, but that none of them have worked out in the end.

“I’m not interested in just anybody taking it over,” Morin said. “I’m worried about my staff working with someone that they enjoy. We had [B&G] listed privately for a while…there were a lot of interested buyers who weren’t going to be able to make it work after we talked.”

Although the decision to close has already been made, Morin said that he will miss the employees and customers of the restaurant most of all.

“The employees are my best friends,” Morin said. “I’ve never been a part of a group like this. All of my closest relationships are from people here at B&G. We’ve just been a really tight knit group for the almost 20 years I’ve been here.”

Senior Chloe Shepherd said that she has been a fan of B&G Tasty Foods for a long time.

“My friends and I [would always] go to B&G on snow days to get burgers and shakes,” Shepherd said. “I was sad to see one of my favorite places to go with my friends close.”

In the end, Morin said that he plans to keep the B&G Tasty Foods brand for himself, at least for now.

“We’re already in the closing procedures,” Morin said. “If somebody wants to buy the brand or the name I’m certainly up to offers, but that said I really like it. Now that [the staff is] taken care of, I like the idea of keeping the intellectual property…that way if I want to do something with the same product and name I still can in the future.”