2 Fat Guys closing Greenville location Saturday

The 2 Fat Guys restaurant in Greenville will be closing for good Saturday.

Jeff Cook and partner Tom Craft have co-owned the business in the Greenville Center at 3801 Kennett Pike since April 2011.

Cook told The News Journal on Wednesday afternoon the closing "was not in our plans," but they lost the space.

The 2 Fat Guys flagship restaurant in Hockessin's Wellington Plaza, which has been serving customers since May 2005, remains open.

The Greenville Center is owned by Pettinaro, a real estate company based in Newport. Tenants include Janssen’s Market, Talbots and Pizza by Elizabeths.

Cook said the 2 Fat Guys partners were negotiating a new lease for five years and "just before signing it, Pettinaro decided that they were taking another offer on the property."

Cook said the move was "very shocking to me and was not in our plans."

A message left Wednesday with a Pettinaro property manager was not immediately returned.

Cook said equipment and furniture will be put in storage. He said he plans to look for a new site for the restaurant "once the dust clears."

"In the meantime, our Hockessin location and our catering remain very strong and will carry us along as usual," Cook said.

In 2016, the partners closed another location, 2 Fat Guys 2 Go in the Gilpin Plaza near Talleyville.

The takeout shop, opened for about 1 1/2 years, served the same food as the 2 Fat Guys locations in Hockessin and in Greenville.

Cook said the business off Concord Pike was not profitable. It is now home to Bubble Shack, a new Vietnamese takeout shop serving bành mí and bubble tea.

"Despite our best efforts, and the loyalty of our customers, we were not able to make ends meet," Cook said at the time.

"The restaurant business is always a challenge even in the best of economies and we learned that this was just not the right time and place for this concept."

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Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico