Several readers have asked Patch what happened to the popular Flat Top Grill on North Mayfair Road, which featured build-your-own Asian stir-fry dishes.
The restaurant closed suddenly and posted no reason. One reader wanted to know if it might reopen sometime.
Not likely. According to an article in the Cincinnati Business Courier, the parent company of Flat Top Grill and Stir Crazy restaurants, Flat Out Crazy, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Jan. 25.
Flat Tops in Michigan and elsewhere also were closed recently.
Flat Top started out in Chicago and quickly opened a number of stores there, then began to expand outside that metro area, including into locations in Wauwatosa and Madison.
In 2009, a group of investors bought Flat Top and Stir Crazy with plans to more than double the numbers of each chain's outlets within three years, according to the Business Courier. Each had 14 locations at the time.
By last year, the combined number had reached 37, but the company was losing money, lenders were turning away and creditors were wanting out, the article says.
At this writing, Flat Top is exactly back where it started at the acquisition, with 14 restaurants, all in Illinois, Indiana and Madison, and only 11 Stir Crazy outlets remain.
