Kings Family Restaurant near Bridgeville closes
The Kings Family Restaurant near Bridgeville, one of the first to open in the region nearly four decades ago, has closed.
The restaurant at 3049 Washington Pike in South Fayette closed its doors Sunday night, along with four other locations in Imperial, Wexford, Harmarville and Altoona.
The restaurant opened at the South Fayette location in 1979 and was the sixth Kings built in the region, company officials said.
A manager at that location said the staff was cleaning up the restaurant and removing furnishings from the building Monday morning. A sign on the door announced the closure and directed customers to visit other restaurants.
Nick Hrehovchak, the chain’s director for operations, said Kelly Companies, which purchased the 35 restaurants in 2015, decided to close five of its locations after the leases for the buildings expired this year. The company announced in a press release that it decided not to renew the leases because it “could simply not withstand increases and the escalated non-negotiable terms” at those locations.
“That was one of the original stores, more than 30 years ago,” he said of the South Fayette location.
It was not immediately known what would happen to the site. Allegheny County real estate records show the building is owned by Hartley C. King, the founder of Kings.
The chain will continue to operate 30 other restaurants in the region, including three nearby locations at 2100 Washington Pike in Scott Township, 115 McMurray Road in Upper St. Clair and 580 McClelland Road in North Strabane Township.
The company said employees at the five closed locations will be offered positions elsewhere.
Kings is set to celebrate its 50th anniversary this year with a variety of events. The first Kings Family Restaurant opened in North Versailles in 1967.