Famous no more? Barbecue restaurant closing 2 Washington locations, including Tacoma
Famous Dave’s, the national barbecue chain that turned 30 this year, abruptly closed its restaurants in Tacoma and Tukwila on Wednesday.
Bellevue-based Ascend Hospitality Group, the franchise owner of the last two remaining locations in Western Washington, announced the Dec. 4 shutter on social media Monday morning.
The company, which was also behind the short-lived Stanford’s Steak on Pacific Avenue in downtown Tacoma, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s unclear how many employees were affected, but they were “provided … with compensation and job seeking support,” according to the posts.
“For many years, we’ve had the honor of serving this community, sharing countless memories over plates of classic ‘que and good company and, for that, we are grateful,” the post read. “To you, our loyal guests, thank you for allowing us to be part of your celebrations, your family dinners, and your everyday moments. It has been our greatest privilege to serve you.”
The Tacoma restaurant, an anchor tenant of the Tacoma Place plaza with WinCo Foods at 1901 72nd St., underwent a light remodeling that included new flooring and varied repairs earlier this year. It was closed from late January through April 18 when it reopened with a country-music parking-lot party. Company founder Dave Anderson attended, according to Ascend.
The Tukwila Famous Dave’s, 17770 Southcenter Parkway, neighbored big-box stores like Michael’s, Best Buy and Applebee’s.
Both locations are listed as “permanently closed” on Famous Dave’s corporate website. A Yakima restaurant is the last one standing in Washington state, according to the map.
Dave Anderson, the son of Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma parents, started his namesake restaurant after learning to smoke ribs outside his family’s home in northern Wisconsin. The brand has grown to more than 100 locations in 30 states, as well as a few in Canada and the United Arab Emirates. Some are company-owned, but many are franchised.
Its parent company, BBQ Holdings, embraced other brands, including Granite City Food and Brewery, Baker’s Square, Village Inn and Chammps American Grill. In September 2022, it merged with MTY Food Group, a vast collection of dozens of restaurant brands headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Other names under its purview include TacoTime, Cold Stone Creamery, TCBY Frozen Yogurt, Wetzel’s Pretzels and Baja Fresh.
That merger led to the closure of around a dozen Famous Dave’s across the country, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. Ascend had also operated restaurants in Everett and Seattle’s Northgate neighborhood, but both went dark two years ago, per Google reviews.
This story was originally published December 5, 2024 at 11:00 AM.