If you are craving beef and gravy, head to the Sign of the Beefcarver soon.
A longtime Royal Oak restaurant that's stood on Woodward Avenue for 70 years is signing off and shuttering.
An early morning Sunday, Oct. 18, Facebook post announced with “heavy hearts” its last day would be Oct. 25, the owners wrote. Within the first hour of the post, more than 325 comments followed expressing sadness, stories of going to the restaurant and its food as well as working there.
An employee who answered the phone Sunday morning said they learned of the closing when they arrived for work.
“Due to extreme financial pressure from rising food costs, not the least of which is the historically high price of roast beef, our menu namesake, we can no longer sustain
the losses that have resulted,” the post reads.
Sign of the Beefcarver, the owners wrote, also struggled to survive since the pandemic.
“Ever since the government mandated shutdown from Covid, and the devastation that caused for operating a restaurant and attracting customers, Beefcarver has struggled to survive,”
Restaurants, as well as consumers, have been facing high food costs, especially beef prices, within the last year.
“Between the excessive food costs and the added burdens of onerous government policies, we can no longer absorb the excessive costs of operating and still offer our customers a desirable value proposition,” reads the post.
It was 1957 that the Royal Oak location began as an “Early American” themed restaurant that was cafeteria-style but with waitress service.
Eventually, more than a dozen locations dotted metro Detroit. All have closed. In 2018, a Dearborn location closed, citing declining business, leaving Royal Oak as the first and last one remaining.
This is a developing story.
Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @SusanMariecooks. Subscribe to the Eat Drink Freep newsletter for insider scoops on food and dining in metro Detroit.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Sign of the Beefcarver to close its original − and last − location
