BYOPizza to close

The owner of downtown’s BYOPizza is closing the restaurant and relocating another of its concepts to the Wilhoit Plaza space.

A Dec. 17 announcement on the 431 S. Jefferson Ave., Ste. 100, eatery’s Facebook page cites the “overwhelming popularity of our sister restaurant, the Aviary Cafe.”

“Dec. 31 will be our last day of operations so the Aviary can relocate to our location in the Wilhoit Plaza,” the post reads. “Thank you for the many years of loyal support. We hope you will continue to join us at the Aviary Cafe in the future.”

Aviary Cafe and Creperie LLC currently operates at 400 E. Walnut St., Ste 100. The post indicates the Aviary Cafe location in Farmers Park will not change.

BYOPizza and Aviary Cafe are brands held by private equity venture Westward Alliance LLC, led by CEO Ryan O’Reilly.

A call to Westward Alliance’s office this morning was not answered.

Restaurateur Michael Felts opened BYOPizza in 2013. It closed for nine months in 2014 and 2015 amid lengthy renovations and an ownership restructuring that expanded its space and gave Westward Alliance operational control, according to Springfield Business Journal archives. Felts in 2018 told SBJ that “O’Reilly decided he didn’t want partners anymore.”

“We tried to find attorneys, and everyone had a conflict of interest. That didn’t really go the best,” Felts told SBJ in May 2018.

Felts has since launched Hot Cluckers on East Sunshine Street and is working to open Taco Habitat on South Glenstone Avenue. His concept called Beale and Bourbon is also close to opening on South Glenstone, according to SBJ reporting.