Eight Fresno and Clovis restaurants close amid rising costs

Figaro’s Mexican Southwestern Grill closed its Fresno and Clovis locations, with June 21, 2026, as its last day of service, as eight restaurants across Fresno and Clovis shut down or prepared to close under higher rents, wages, food costs and energy bills. At least six of the affected restaurants had already closed or were about to close, and most were locally owned while two were franchises. The list included Mirchi Massala, La Jacka and Beard Papa’s.

The losses reached beyond one dining room or one shopping center. Fresno and Clovis saw more than two dozen restaurant closures in 2025, and at least 37 restaurants shut that year, a pace that kept local owners, employees and customers moving through a shrinking list of familiar places to eat. There is no official database tracking restaurant closures in the two cities, so each shutdown has been counted one by one.

The pressure on restaurants came as another Central Valley food fight played out in Reedley. Cesar Mora was preparing to go to trial in Fresno County Civil Court in a lawsuit over white nectarine sales filed by Giumarra Brothers Fruit Company, a Los Angeles-based produce supplier. He later won a small victory in court on a Thursday, after the dispute had already spilled into a public campaign that included a giveaway of 182,000 pounds of nectarines and $51,000 raised online.

For Fresno and Clovis, those separate shocks fit the same pattern: higher costs at every step of the food chain, from orchards to storefronts. The closure of Figaro’s, Mirchi Massala, La Jacka and Beard Papa’s showed how quickly pressure in the Valley economy can move from the field to the cash register, leaving fewer independent places and franchise counters open for diners across the county.