Coronavirus casualty: A burger favorite of this Central Kentucky college town is gone
A Richmond restaurant is gone after only two years in business. Known for its craft burgers and sandwiches, Burgher Burger opened in February 2019.
Co-owner Matt Yeast announced on Facebook last week that it has closed for good, surprising fans of their fresh handmade patties and hand-cut fries.
Yeast said Friday that he and his partners in the business “all collectively decided not to continue” after the lease on the space in downtown Richmond at 236 W. Main St. ran out.
He said the pandemic and the resulting capacity restrictions recommended by health officials to stem spread of the novel coronavirus took a heavy toll.
“We had our one-year anniversary on Feb. 18, 2020 ... which is huge in the restaurant business,” Yeast said. Less than a month later, on March 16, he said he was forced to let nine employees go.
He said that Burgher Burger tried dining in with 50 percent capacity for a week before deciding it just wouldn’t work, with their small space. So he and another employee operated it as carryout and delivery only for the last year.
“We ran it open-to-close six days a week,” he said. Despite a strong customer base in the community, sales were cut in half and he said federal PPP loan assistance “just kept the lights on.”
While the restaurant wasn’t geared just to the Eastern Kentucky University crowd, reduced attendance during the pandemic also hurt.
“I cast a wide net,” Yeast said. “I didn’t want to be a bar that had great food. I wanted to be a restaurant that had a cool bar.”
Yeast, a restaurant veteran who worked for years at Lynagh’s and at Carrabba’s Italian Grill in Lexington, said he is already in discussions on his next venture.
“I don’t know if the industry will go back to where it was,” Yeast said. “I do feel like consumer confidence will come back. But it might be a long time and we didn’t think we could wait it out.”
