Smokey Bones closes multiple US locations amid FAT Brands bankruptcy turmoil

Smokey Bones restaurants from Colonie, New York, to Columbus, Ohio, went dark with almost no warning as the barbecue chain was pulled deeper into the fallout from FAT Brands’ bankruptcy. In Colonie, a worker at the 1557 Central Avenue location confirmed the restaurant had permanently closed and said employees found out Tuesday morning, a jolt that left staff with no runway to line up hours, transfer shifts or tell regulars the doors were shut.

The closures reached multiple Ohio dining rooms at once. The Columbus Dispatch reported that Smokey Bones’ three Columbus-area locations at Easton Town Center, Grove City and Reynoldsburg had all closed as the owner pursued bankruptcy. For hourly restaurant workers, that kind of shutdown can mean an abrupt loss of wages, tips and scheduled shifts overnight, with little time to plan around the gap in income.

The brand’s website added to the confusion. On April 29, Smokey Bones’ store locator was still live and still listed locations including Springfield, Illinois; Lansing, Michigan; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Bowling Green, Kentucky; Dayton, Ohio; and West Chester, Ohio. The company’s order page was also still active, inviting customers to find locations even as closure reports were spreading across the chain.

Smokey Bones has been shrinking for months. One reference source put the chain at 19 restaurants in 15 Eastern states as of January 2026, down from as many as 128 locations at its peak. Earlier reporting this year said the brand had already closed 14 locations and was down to about 11 restaurants before this week’s shutdown wave, underscoring how quickly the retreat had accelerated.

The pressure traces back to FAT Brands Inc. and its affiliate Twin Hospitality Group Inc., which filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January to restructure debt. Smokey Bones was founded in 1999 by Darden Restaurants in Orlando and later changed hands, but the current collapse shows how hard it has become for heavily leveraged casual-dining chains to absorb rising costs, thinner traffic and debt service at the same time. For employees, the business-side restructuring landed at ground level as locked doors, empty dining rooms and a company locator that stayed online after the shifts were gone.