Opinion: SBJ.net readers digest restaurant news in 2022

Each year, I enjoy the task of looking back on the most read SBJ.net articles.

For us at Springfield Business Journal, it gives a window into the stories that have shaped our newsroom discussions and led to follow-up coverage. We used this information to craft our Business Year in Review (coverage starts on page 11). It can be telling of trends, and we just like to know what our subscribers are interested in reading about.

This year, restaurant news took four of the Top 10 spots. This is not unusual. Restaurant news has historically been an important source of content for us.

Before we jump in, a quick note: I removed SBJ award profiles and announcements along with Today in Business state and national news summaries to give a better picture of what news was read on the local level.

Without further ado, let’s get into it. Here are the Top 10 most read stories on SBJ.net.

1. Court orders eviction at former Hot Cluckers space. Three of the four restaurant news items on our Top 10 involve businessperson Michael Felts, who has built a notable portfolio of eateries. This year, he was accused of Paycheck Protection Program fraud, which I’ll talk more about below, and follow-up coverage showed additional struggles. In September, court documents showed up on the doors of the former Hot Cluckers space, 1450 E. Sunshine St., to inform the public of an eviction notice. A filing from a lawsuit in Greene County Circuit Court indicated Hot Cluckers LLC was ordered to exit the space. Property owner CLB Apex Holdings was listed as the plaintiff. Hot Cluckers moved its Nashville-style chicken restaurant out of the 2,000-square-foot Sunshine Street space after a south-side location opened in 2020. The Sunshine Street space had been used as a test kitchen for Felts’ eateries.
2. Restaurateur accused of PPP scheme. Felts in September was accused by the federal government of engaging in a PPP fraud scheme involving his restaurant entities and personal property in the Jones Spring subdivision in east Springfield. No charges have been filed against Felts as of press time, but the allegations in the federal complaint accuse him of using companies under his control to complete false and fraudulent applications for PPP loans.
3. Sally Payne resigns from city. The city of Springfield’s director of workforce development resigned in October. In an SBJ exclusive story, she alleged the city engaged in retaliation against her after she questioned a city finance department employee’s use of workers’ compensation. Payne alleged city officials accused her of providing prescription medications to staff and issuing city contracts to friends. She has denied both of those claims, and the city declined to comment on the personnel matter.
4. South-side Mexican restaurant to close. South Springfield’s Los Cabos Mexican Grill & Cantina closed in late 2022 after operating for more than four years. Just to the north of the site, BiBi Investments and Development LLC in 2021 announced plans to build a project called BiBi Office Complex at 4103 S. National Ave. Los Cabos officials have cited the development plans for the closure, though a rendering in a listing for the BiBi Office Complex at LoopNet.com appears to show the restaurant building intact.
5. BKD unveils new name. FORVIS, a combination of the words forward and vision, was unveiled in April as the new name of Springfield-based BKD LLP. It was made official in June, when BKD’s merger with North Carolina-based Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP, dba DHG, was finalized.
6. Verdict against CoxHealth named 58th largest in 2021 by law journal. A news release from Joplin-based law firm Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci LLC in July brought us up to speed with one of its case’s rankings in The National Law Journal’s top 100 verdicts of 2021 publication. The firm represented the defendants in a roughly $34 million verdict against CoxHealth in a medical malpractice case involving brain damage and other medical issues for a child.
7. Hot Cluckers closes Springfield restaurant. About six weeks after federal officials disclosed the PPP case against Felts, his Hot Cluckers restaurant on South Campbell closed. A relocation to another city was left as a possibility in social media posts. The south-side restaurant debuted in 2020 at the former Famous Dave’s space.
8. Logistical issues hamper Garth Brooks concerts at Thunder Ridge. Reports of logistical issues put a damper on an October weekend of Garth Brooks concerts in Ridgedale, part of a series of events unveiling the newly expanded Thunder Ridge Nature Arena. Brooks played three shows at the Johnny Morris-owned property part of Big Cedar Lodge. Customers complained of waiting hours in traffic and for shuttles on a congested one-way road into the venue. Some customers indicated they missed all or part of at least one of the concerts due to the issues.
9. BK&M unveils concept for corner of Sunshine and National. Following two contentious meetings with University Heights residents, developer BK&M LLC in November unveiled architectural renderings of its up to 200,000-square-foot, six-story mixed-use concept at Sunshine Street and National Avenue. The Heights continues to face neighborhood backlash.
10. Former R.B. Murray VP dies. A former R.B. Murray Co. vice president and a member of the family behind the real estate company died June 13. Rob Murray III, a resident of Ventura, California, and a Springfield native, was 52.

What will 2023 hold? You’re likely to see continuations of some of the stories above, though it’s difficult to project. We’ll be here to bring you timely news as it comes.

Springfield Business Journal Digital Editor Geoff Pickle can be reached at gpickle@sbj.net.