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Kluge shuts down Bennigan’s, Steak & Ale

by Lindsay Barnes

Just 13 days after the John Kluge-owned Ponderosa Steakhouse auctioned off all of the assets at its Charlottesville location, Kluge’s company Metromedia confirms today that it has shut down all of the company’s corporate-owned Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale restaurants. Metromedia has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy for both of the chains. According to the Chicago Tribune, the move is a sudden one, as Bennigan’s managers all received phone calls at midnight last night to shutter the restaurants immediately. Kluge was the richest man in the world in the late 1980s according to Forbes, and lived in the Charlottesville area until 2001, when he moved to Palm Beach, Florida and donated his Albemarle County estate to the University of Virginia.
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  • colfer July 30th, 2008 | 10:42 am

    More like unloaded it on UVa. They didn’t really want it, they just want money, as a rule. After years of negotiations, Dave Matthews took up the slack and the deal was struck. Kluge’s original vision was (as I recall it) of UVa students traipsing up there for environmental education, etc. Well, UVa just saw it as an expense. If they can’t sell it, or play golf on it, they don’t want it.

  • admiral ellis July 30th, 2008 | 2:08 pm

    man i worked for steak n ale in humble tx, 77338 for almost 2 years as a server. so why is this happening, will this store re open. anyone need a server , come on kluge get me another job.

  • Nancan July 31st, 2008 | 1:03 pm

    Bennigans and Steak & Ale haven’t kept up with the wants and needs of consumers. Nobody wants to eat dinner in a roomful of nostalgic junk or a pseudo medieval castle anymore. And, the Ponderosa was a dump! Seen it, done it. Surprised it took this long to close.

  • [...] Kluge shuts down Bennigan’s, Steak & Ale Just 13 days after the John Kluge-owned Ponderosa Steakhouse auctioned off all of the assets at its Charlottesville location, Kluge’s company Metromedia confirms today that it has shut down all of the company’s corporate-owned Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale restaurants. Metromedia has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy for both of the chains. According to the Chicago Tribune, the move is a sudden one, as Bennigan’s managers all received phone calls at midnight last night to shutter the restaurants immediately. Kluge was the richest man in the world in the late 1980s according to Forbes, and lived in the Charlottesville area until 2001, when he moved to Palm Beach, Florida and donated his Albemarle County estate to the University of Virginia. # (3) [...]

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