These five Fresno restaurants closed. They blame rising rent, wages, energy costs, more

Bethany Clough
·4 min read

At least five restaurants have closed in recent months in Fresno.

The reasons why vary, but most have been hammered by the same cascade of challenges: rising food costs and other inflation, along with climbing rent, employee pay and energy bills.

All of it comes on top of the years they didn’t make much money during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although some restaurants got a break on rent during the pandemic, others are still struggling to repay back rent — sometimes with interest.

So when their leases expired, some decide to call it quits.

And some restaurant owners declined to tell us why they closed.

Baskin-Robbins

The Baskin-Robbins at Shaw and Feland is nearly cleaned out following the store’s recent closure, on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023.
The Baskin-Robbins at Shaw and Feland is nearly cleaned out following the store’s recent closure, on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023.

The Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop on West Shaw Avenue near Feland Avenue closed Aug. 15.

The owner did not want to be named or quoted, but talked to The Bee as she cleaned out the shop.

Her lease had expired and she decided not to renew. Expenses kept going up, she said, including rent and food costs — along with a year’s worth of PG&E bills totaling $18,000.

Once the Starbucks, GameStop and Sushiculture in the same building closed, there was less foot traffic for ice cream, she said.

Foster’s Freeze

In this file photo from 2014, an old Foster’s Freeze sign is seen outside the restaurant in San Luis Obispo, California, shortly before the restaurant closed.
In this file photo from 2014, an old Foster’s Freeze sign is seen outside the restaurant in San Luis Obispo, California, shortly before the restaurant closed.

After more than 40 years, the Foster’s Freeze at Palm and Bullard avenues has closed.

The location will become a Starbucks.

It’s the second location of Foster’s, known for its soft serve ice cream and fast food, to close in recent months. The Blackstone Avenue location also closed, citing rising rent and other costs.

At Palm and Bullard, the restaurant’s lease had expired.

Starbucks will majorly remodel the building.

Foster’s last day was Aug. 31.

Genesis Bistro

A new business at Cedar and Nees avenues caught Fresno’s attention last spring when a restaurant and a hair salon opened up under the same roof. The Genesis Bistro was to the left as you walked in, people getting hair cuts and blowouts to the right.

The business closed in July. The salon will reopen, but there are no plans to reopen the restaurant.

President and CEO Thomas Leonard said costs of everything were rising: rent, food, alcohol, employee pay, energy bills, workers’ compensation and insurance.

“I think our story line,” Leonard said of Genesis Bistro, “will be the about the same as everybody else’s: the economy, the inflation ... then trying to have to pass that on to the consumer, who really couldn’t afford it.”

Rising labor costs in particular add up, he said. The minimum wage has risen between 50 cents and $1 an hour each of the past five years in California, and is now $15.50. Such increases also drive up the wages of higher-paid employees, he noted.

Nationwide, inflation peaked this summer at 9.1% — meaning that prices of everything were that much higher compared to the same time last year — though it has since leveled off. Still, that peak came after years of increasing prices.

With menu prices climbing everywhere, people aren’t going out to eat as much as they used to, Leonard said.

“You can survive all of this stuff if you have a significant amount of capital,” he said. “Most restaurants don’t have that.”

Waffle Shop

Waffle Shop Country Cooking at at Figarden Drive and Brawley Avenue has closed.

The restaurant closed earlier this month after it was sold to a new owner.

Waffle Shop’s owner declined to go into detail about why he was selling the restaurant.

He owns another breakfast and lunch spot, Daddy Waffles, at Herndon and Marks avenues. It has a very similar menu, including the popular chicken and waffles.

Yosemite Deli

With the “Now open” sign still up, Yosemite Deli has closed. A Mediterranean restaurant is moving into the spot, in the shopping center at Milburn Avenue, south of Herndon Avenue in Fresno, on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023.
With the “Now open” sign still up, Yosemite Deli has closed. A Mediterranean restaurant is moving into the spot, in the shopping center at Milburn Avenue, south of Herndon Avenue in Fresno, on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023.

This little sandwich shop near Herndon and Milburn avenues opened in July of last year, near Starbucks. It was run by the same owner of the Deli Delicious that was on the spot before that.

Owner Vahid Misaghi created his own restaurant, with sandwiches named after Yosemite’s most famous features.

But it has since closed.

A combination of factors led to the closure, he said.

A lawsuit by Deli Delicious played a role — he declined to go into details — as did rising expenses, he said.

“The bills were definitely high — especially PG&E has been significantly high,” he said.

A Mediterranean eatery is in the process of moving into the spot.