The mcl restaurant chain, a 76-year-old Indianapolis based cafeteria style buffet operator, is closing several locations this month, local reports and social posts show.
Company communications confirmed closures impacting Terre Haute, Muncie, and the Irvington neighborhood of Indianapolis, and a Whitehall Ohio location, the company said in a response to a Facebook post.
The company wrote that the Whitehall site "were not where they need to be to cover operating cost" and confirmed March 29 as the closure date for Whitehall, Muncie, and Irvington locations, the company added in its social media reply.
After the recent moves the chain's footprint will fall to seven locations, the reporting indicates, down from 13 at the end of 2024 according to Technomic data.
Technomic data show MCL ended 2024 with 13 locations and $25.7 million in sales, a reported 2 percent year over year increase, even as the chain trims sites.
Background And Industry Context
According to the company's website Charles "Mac" McGaughey founded MCL in 1950 and the McGaughey family still owns and operates the business in its third generation, the site states.
The website describes scratch kitchens and family farm recipes, and lists menu details including noon specials priced at $12.95 and blue plate specials priced at $14.69, along with signature entrées and rotating daily options.
The closures come amid a broader pullback by full service chains, the reporting notes, with recent retrenchment at Denny's, Outback Steakhouse, Applebee's, Red Robin, On the Border, Macaroni Grill, Smokey Bones, Hooters, and Bahama Breeze.
The article also noted that K&W Cafeteria closed all remaining locations in December, and new data from Black Box Intelligence shows about 9 percent of full service units are considered at risk for closure this year as they manage sales losses of 30 percent or more.
MCL will continue operating locations that remain open including an Upper Arlington site near Columbus, a Dayton location, and five Indianapolis market restaurants in Carmel, Avon, Township Line, Castleton, and Southside, the reporting states.
