Winner of NBC’s America’s Next Great Restaurant, Jamawn Woods, left the competition with the prize of three new chain restaurants to his name. Now, three has become one as the closure of two Soul Daddy eateries plagues the restauranteur.
Jamawn Woods’ Soul Daddy blew away the competition on America’s Next Great Restaurant. His take on healthy soul food left judges and investors Curtis Stone, Bobby Flay, Lorena Garcia and Steve Ells confident the American public would adjust to the new franchise. All that’s changed, however. Eater magazine is reporting that Soul Daddy’s locations in Los Angeles and New York are no more.
A statement was released from the team behind Soul Daddy, saying, “The realities of running a restaurant are very difficult, more so with multiple locations in multiple cities. After a careful review of the business model and the performance of the restaurants, we have decided that our best opportunity for Soul Daddy’s success is to focus our efforts on establishing a solid footing in one location, building the brand, and developing the operations from there.”
The team added, “We have decided to close our restaurants at Hollywood and Highland in Los Angeles and the South Street Seaport in New York, effective June 14, and focus on developing the best restaurant we can at the Mall of America restaurant in Bloomington, Minnesota. While it has certainly been a difficult decision, we believe this is the best approach as we work towards ongoing success for Soul Daddy.”
This actually could be a good plan of action for Jamawn Woods, who beat out Sudhir Kandula’s Spice Coast and Joseph Galluzzi’s The Brooklyn Meatball Co. for the win.
Maybe focusing on one business and bringing in revenue will give him more of a chance to build a solid foundation.
