Smokey Bones restaurants closed every single one of their remaining locations on April 28, 2026, and the way it happened made the news as much as the closure itself. Customers showed up to find locked doors and paper signs taped to the glass. Employees at multiple locations across the country said they found out the same morning they arrived for their shifts. No public announcement came in advance. No email went out to loyalty members. A spokesperson for FAT Brands, the parent company, confirmed the closures to USA TODAY with a brief statement saying all Smokey Bones locations had ceased operations as of April 28. After 27 years in business, the chain was gone overnight.
What the closure notice said to customers
The paper signs posted on doors across the country carried the same message at location after location. Customers learned the restaurant had permanently closed as of April 28. A brief thank-you to loyal guests followed. That was it. No explanation. No forwarding information. No contact details for questions about gift cards or refunds. Meanwhile, the Smokey Bones website still listed all locations as open and still showed functioning buttons for takeout orders and reservations. Clicking those buttons led to broken forms and error pages. The brand’s social media accounts, which had posted a teaser for a new upcoming menu just 5 days before the closure, filled up quickly with comments from customers who felt blindsided.
Furthermore, the Smokey Bones team did eventually post a farewell message on the brand’s website, acknowledging the closure after 27 years and thanking customers for the memories. The statement described the chain as more than a restaurant as a place where shared meals, celebrations, and traditions happened. It did not explain what went wrong or what customers should do next.
Why Smokey Bones restaurants closed the financial collapse behind the shutdown
The abrupt closure did not come out of nowhere. In fact, the warning signs had been building for years. Smokey Bones was originally part of Darden Restaurants, which sold it in 2023 to FAT Brands Inc. for $30 million as a 60-unit chain. FAT Brands then spun it off into Twin Hospitality Group Inc. in January 2025, a public company that also owned adult sports bar Twin Peaks. That structure put Smokey Bones in a difficult position from the start. FAT Brands had clearly prioritized Twin Peaks over the barbecue chain long before any bankruptcy filing. As a result, resources, marketing, and executive attention tilted heavily toward the sports bar concept.
In the summer of 2025, Twin Hospitality announced it would close 15 underperforming Smokey Bones locations and convert 19 others into Twin Peaks restaurants. Then, in January 2026, FAT Brands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Twin Hospitality followed with its own filing. At that point, the company stated publicly that Smokey Bones would remain open and operating as usual. That statement proved optimistic. By April 28, bankruptcy court proceedings had rejected the remaining 31 location leases. FAT Brands sold every other brand in its portfolio at auction. Smokey Bones, however, found no buyer. Additionally, analysts noted that barbecue is a difficult segment and that the chain had been damaged goods for some time.
What happens to Smokey Bones gift cards and employee wages
For customers holding gift cards, the news is not good. The FAT Brands spokesperson confirmed that Smokey Bones gift cards are no longer redeemable at any location. However, cardholders may be entitled to file a claim in the bankruptcy proceeding. The bankruptcy court accepts claims online through its official filing portal. Customers who bought gift cards in the days before the closure some of whom posted on social media saying they had no idea the chain was shutting down should file as soon as possible.
For employees, the situation was equally difficult. At the Illinois location, the sole Smokey Bones in that state, 20 workers learned of the permanent closure on the same day it happened. Similar accounts came from locations in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Virginia, Florida, and several other states. In some cases, employees arrived for scheduled shifts only to find the doors locked. FAT Brands did not answer USA TODAY’s questions about how and when it notified employees.
Is there any chance Smokey Bones comes back
At this point, the answer appears to be no at least not in its current form. Bankruptcy court proceedings rejected the brand’s 31 remaining leases. No buyer stepped forward at the auction where other FAT Brands properties changed hands. The website remains up but non-functional. The social media pages remain active but now serve largely as comment sections for grieving customers. Moreover, restaurant industry analysts who covered the chain’s decline say the combination of debt, brand damage, and sector challenges made a sale unlikely. Smokey Bones was not simply a victim of bankruptcy. It was a chain that struggled to compete in an increasingly crowded casual dining market and never fully recovered from years of underinvestment under private equity ownership.
Source: USA TODAY
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