Johnny Carino’s at Fayette Mall is closed; Hamburg restaurant remains open
Johnny Carino’s Italian at Fayette Plaza has closed.
The Italian chain restaurant on Rojay Drive closed in early July, Sarah Enlow, marketing director for Fayette Mall, confirmed Friday.
“Our leasing team is in the process of working on something new for that area,” she said.
The Carino’s restaurant in Hamburg on Sir Barton Way remains open.
The local franchises are owned by former Lexington vice mayor Mike Scanlon’s Zenith Co., which also owns the local Taziki’s restaurants. Scanlon previously founded and was president of Thomas & King, which at one time had as many as 97 Applebee’s restaurants in six states. Thomas & King sold its Applebee’s operations in 2013. The troubled chain has since closed dozens of restaurants nationwide.
In July 2016, the Johnny Carino’s Italian chain filed for its second bankruptcy in three years and was put up for sale. The Texas-based chain blamed the weak casual-dining market, low oil prices and higher-than-expected costs associated with the Affordable Care Act in its 2016 bankruptcy filing.
In March, the state of Texas asked the federal bankruptcy court to dismiss the proceedings so the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts could collect more than $150,000 in unpaid sales taxes.
This story was originally published August 25, 2017 at 12:07 PM with the headline "Johnny Carino’s at Fayette Mall is closed; Hamburg restaurant remains open."