HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — You may have heard some speculation about the sudden shutdown of the Holland Denny’s restaurant, at 633 E. 24th St.
Here’s what happened. The restaurant, one of seven Denny’s in Michigan operated by the Lansing-based JDJ Hospitality, was shuttered on Oct. 18, 2019, and is now up for sale. JDJ had tried to sell the Holland business as far back as 2015, according to a listing on LoopNet.
JDJ had filed for bankruptcy in 2018, according to a MIBiz report. In March, though, PNC Bank told the court the reorganization wasn’t going well. JDJ was ordered back to circuit court to deal with the company’s outstanding debt, and a judge ordered a Grand Rapids- company, Amicus Management, to take over all seven restaurants, operating them until they could be sold.
Amicus President Dan Yeomans tells WHTC the buyer, a large company that operates dozens of restaurants, didn’t want three of the locations, including two previously closed restaurants, in Muskegon, and Grand Ledge. Holland got rejected for one reason, he said. (Listen to the full interview.)
“They looked at sales volume, and they looked at location,” he said, noted that the Holland Denny’s is at the “older end of town.”
He called the purchaser a “very strong, well-heeled franchisee” that owns about 20 Denny’s and 90 other restaurants.
“We searched out buyers. We talked to numerous pre-approved Denny’s francisees from the Denny’s, preapproved to participate in expansion, and we settled on the best purchase agreement we had, one buyer who wanted only four of the five that we had, and didn’t want to purchase the Holland location,” he said.
The Holland property is expected to go up for sale. Some of the Holland Denny’s employees have transferred to the Kentwood store, which remains in business, as do three other locations: Lansing, East Lansing and Traverse City.
