By Kim Leonard
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, January 26, 2009
Eat'n Park restaurants will serve breakfast and lunch this Sunday, but the entire chain will close at 3 p.m. for the Super Bowl.
This will be the first time that Homestead-based Eat'n Park Hospitality Group has closed or shortened its restaurants' hours, other than on a major holiday, spokesman Adam Golomb said today.
That includes Super Bowl Sunday three years ago, when the Steelers faced the Seattle Seahawks. "We learned it was the wrong decision back then" to stay open, he said, and there were few customers.
Another consideration is that many of the 6,000 local managers, cooks, waitresses and other restaurant staff want to watch the game, which starts at 6 p.m. he said.
The shutdown won't affect just the 46 Eat'n Parks in the Pittsburgh market. "We're closing the whole company down," meaning all 80 locations, Golomb said.
Support for the Steelers is strong in many other regions where the restaurants are located, the company reasoned.
"Probably, the only area where people won't want to cheer for the Steelers is Cleveland," he said, but most Eat'n Park customers who are Browns fans, too, will want to watch the big game. Seven restaurants are in the Cleveland area.
All the Eat'n Parks will reopen at 6 a.m. Monday.
