Howard said today’s closure of the Beavercreek mall location will not affect the handful of other local Gold Star locations, including restaurants in Dayton, Huber Heights, Germantown, Franklin and inside the Dayton Mall’s food court in Miami Twp.
The Gold Star Chili spokesman said he did not know the specific factors behind the closing of the food-court location in the Fairfield Commons mall or how many employees were affected, but said mall locations overall “have been more challenging.” Mall stores often offer a more limited menu than free-standing stores, because of limited facilities, and it’s more difficult for mall stores to turn a strong profit, Howard said.
Gold Star officials will re-examine the Dayton market in 2015 with an eye toward expansion, either in the form of free-standing stores or perhaps leased spaces in existing commercial and retail centers, Howard said. The new stores will likely be franchise-owned, but also may include a couple of corporate-owned restaurants, he said.
The chili chain’s timetable calls for identifying and analyzing suitable sites in 2015 and possibly opening locations in 2016, he said.
Gold Star Chili was founded in 1965 in Cincinnati and operates about 100 restaurants in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. It also sells chili products in retail stores and online.
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