Restaurant That Brought Down Paula Deen’s Empire Closes, Doesn’t Tell Employees

Surprise, y’all!

“Thank you for 10 great years. Uncle Bubba’s is now closed.” That’s the message the restaurant at the center of the controversy that brought Paula Deen’s empire crumbling down last year has posted on its website, which was reportedly echoed on its Facebook page. And according to some of the restaurant’s employees, that’s the only way they found out that they no longer had jobs.

Uncle Bubba’s Seafood & Oyster House in Savannah, GA was the defendant in a lawsuit from employees claiming the restaurant fostered a racist environment. During the course of that suit, Deen, a co-owner along with her brother, the “Bubba” part of the equation, admitted to using racist language, and saw her business deals with retailers vanish as a result.

The restaurant is closed as of yesterday, it said in a statement.

“Since its opening in 2004, Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House has been a destination for residents and tourists in Savannah, offering the region’s freshest seafood and oysters. However, the restaurant’s owner and operator, Bubba Hiers, has made the decision to close the restaurant in order to explore development options for the waterfront property on which the restaurant is located. At this point, no specific plans have been announced and a range of uses are under consideration in order realize the highest and best use for the property.”

WSAV-TV spoke to several workers who say they didn’t get any formal notification that the restaurant had permanently closed, and others reportedly said as much on the restaurant’s Facebook page. That page is no longer up.

To that end, the Savannah Morning News says one such post from someone who said she’d worked there for seven years: “I’ve been water works all a.m. I’ve worked there since I was 16. I woke up this a.m. to no job and no forewarning.”

According to that media outlet, employees were collecting their severance checks in the restaurant’s parking lot yesterday morning.

Uncle Bubba’s, co-owned by Paula Deen and her brother, closes after 10 years [Savannah Morning News]

Uncle Bubba’s Seafood & Oyster House Closes it Doors [WSAV.com]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist