If you’ve driven past a dark Frisch’s Big Boy recently—empty parking lot, no signs of life—you’re not imagining things. Dozens of locations across Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio have shut down in a short period. Customers are confused, frustrated, and asking the same question: is Frisch’s done for good?
The short answer is no, not entirely. But the full picture is more complicated, and for people in the Greater Cincinnati area, the damage feels very real. Here’s a clear breakdown of what happened, why it happened, and what might come next.
Frisch’s Is Not Fully Closed, But the Damage Is Real
Let’s clear this up first: Frisch’s Big Boy has not shut down completely. The corporate entity still exists, and some locations are still open. But the chain has lost more than 20 restaurants in a short stretch of time, and many of those closures hit Greater Cincinnati—the brand’s home market—hardest.
At the time of recent reporting, Frisch’s had roughly 80 restaurants remaining. More than 20 of those faced eviction actions, which led to permanent closures. That’s a significant chunk of the chain gone in a matter of months.
Specific locations that closed include Cheviot, Northgate, Colerain, Harrison, North College Hill, West Price Hill, and others around the Cincinnati area. Some locations outside the 13-county Cincinnati region were still operating at the time of recent reports, but locals in the core market are experiencing this as if the whole brand has vanished.
The speed and volume of closures is why so many people feel like Frisch’s is “going out of business”—because in their neighborhoods, it effectively has.
What the 2015 Sale Set in Motion
To understand why this is happening now, you have to go back to 2015. That year, an Atlanta-based private equity firm called NRD Capital bought Frisch’s Restaurants Inc. for around $175 million.
Just four months after that purchase, a Florida-based company—now known as NNN REIT LP—bought 74 of Frisch’s 121 restaurant properties for roughly $47 million. This is called a sale–leaseback deal.
Here’s what that means in plain terms: Frisch’s sold its buildings to a landlord and then immediately started paying rent to stay in those same buildings. Think of it like selling your house to a property investor, collecting a lump sum of cash, and then renting your own home back every month. That works fine as long as your income stays stable. If your income drops, you’re suddenly in danger of losing the home you once owned outright.
Frisch’s found itself in that exact position. The sale gave the company a short-term cash boost, but it also locked Frisch’s into fixed rent payments across most of its locations. When business got harder, those rent obligations didn’t shrink. The company no longer controlled its own real estate, which left it with very little room to maneuver.
Frisch’s publicly blamed closures on “unforeseen circumstances.” But outside experts and investigative reporters at WCPO argue the problems were a predictable result of this financial structure—not a surprise at all.
The Evictions That Triggered the Wave of Closures
When Frisch’s stopped paying rent, NNN REIT LP—the Florida-based company that owns many of the buildings—started filing eviction notices. According to a Nation’s Restaurant News report, at least 20 locations were facing eviction for more than $4.5 million in unpaid rent. That’s more than one-quarter of Frisch’s remaining locations at the time.
Once a restaurant is evicted, it’s over for that location. The landlord controls the building and can do whatever it wants with the space—lease it to a competitor, renovate it, or leave it empty.
Think of it like a retail store in a mall. If the store stops paying rent, the mall can remove them and bring in someone else. That’s exactly what happened to many Frisch’s locations. The evictions moved fast, and the closures followed quickly.
One of the most emotional losses was the Mainliner on Wooster Pike, which closed in December 2024 after roughly 80 years in operation. For many Cincinnati residents, that closure alone felt like the end of an era.
Who Actually Owns What—and Why It’s Confusing
Part of the reason this situation is hard to follow is that several different companies are involved, and they each play a different role.
- Frisch’s Restaurants Inc. — the operator of the restaurants, now a tenant at most of its locations
- NRD Capital — the Atlanta-based private equity firm that bought Frisch’s in 2015
- NNN REIT LP — the Florida-based company that owns many of the actual buildings and is the landlord filing evictions
- Big Boy Restaurant Group — a separate company with rights to the Big Boy brand, now announcing plans to expand in Cincinnati
None of these companies are the same thing, even though they’re all connected to the Frisch’s story. When people ask “is Frisch’s going out of business,” the answer depends on which of these entities you’re talking about.
The Restaurant Turf War Making Things Messier
As Frisch’s has lost leases and closed locations, other concepts have moved in. Local media have described what’s happening as a “restaurant turf war.”
A Michigan-based group connected to a concept called Dolly’s Burgers & Shakes reportedly attempted to step into some former Frisch’s locations as Frisch’s was losing them. Frisch’s filed legal actions in response. WLWT reported on the Frisch’s CEO vowing a comeback even as the evictions piled up.
This legal fighting has made the situation even harder to track. Locations that closed may be in legal limbo. And any reopening plans depend heavily on how these disputes get resolved.
Could Frisch’s Come Back? What Big Boy Restaurant Group Is Saying
There is a potential comeback story here, but it comes with important caveats.
Big Boy Restaurant Group CEO Tamer Afr announced plans to reopen 55 closed Frisch’s locations by June 1, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. The goal is to bring Big Boy-branded or co-branded restaurants back to many of the same buildings where Frisch’s used to operate.
That’s an ambitious target. But it’s being pursued in the middle of active legal disputes, ongoing negotiations with landlords, and a complicated web of property rights. Whether all 55 reopen on schedule—or at all—is not guaranteed. Treat this as a plan in progress, not a done deal.
If it does happen, Cincinnati residents may see some of those familiar locations come back to life, just under a different banner or business structure than before.
What This Tells Us About Private Equity and Restaurant Chains
Frisch’s is a useful case study in what can go wrong when a regional chain gets bought by private equity and then sells off its real estate to generate cash.
The sale–leaseback model is common. It gives a company liquidity quickly, which can look attractive on paper. But it trades long-term stability for short-term cash. When revenue drops—whether from competition, inflation, changing habits, or other pressures—the rent still comes due. And if the company can’t pay, the landlord moves in.
For more analysis on how business models like this play out across industries, The Business Marker covers these kinds of ownership and financial structure stories in practical detail.
Frisch’s isn’t the first legacy chain to follow this path, and it likely won’t be the last. The pattern tends to look the same: private equity buys a well-known brand, extracts value through real estate deals, and the long-term consequences fall on the employees, customers, and communities that depended on the business.
What Should Customers Expect Right Now?
If you’re a Frisch’s regular, here’s the practical bottom line:
- Some locations are still open, but the situation has been changing quickly. Check before you drive.
- Closures have been concentrated in Greater Cincinnati, so if your local Frisch’s is gone, it may not come back under the Frisch’s name.
- A potential comeback under the Big Boy brand is in progress, but it’s not certain and depends on legal outcomes.
- The Frisch’s brand as most Cincinnati residents knew it—widely available across the metro area—has fundamentally shrunk, at least for now.
The Frisch’s story is still unfolding. It’s not a clean “going out of business” story, but it’s not business as usual either. It’s a regional chain caught between a difficult financial structure, an aggressive landlord, legal disputes, and a brand trying to find its footing again. What happens next depends on deals and court decisions that haven’t been settled yet.
For now, if you have a Frisch’s near you that’s still open, it’s worth knowing that wasn’t guaranteed—and may not stay that way.
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