Lindsey’s Owner Explains ‘Harsh Reality’ Behind Closure of Beloved Wareham Restaurant

After one of the most trying days of her life, Cheri Lindsey joined Michael and Maddie Tuesday morning to talk more in-depth about why her iconic Wareham restaurant closed so abruptly Monday.

She told us the biggest problem at Lindsey's Family Restaurant, by far, was staffing.  She simply didn't have enough workers to run the business in a way that would be profitable. Coupled with the rising costs of food, it was a one-two punch that couldn't be ignored, Lindsey claimed.

LISTEN TO CHERI LINDSEY ON MICHAEL AND MADDIE

Lindsey told us that while she originally had plans to keep the restaurant open through Christmas, she quickly realized last week that she was losing too much money by staying open. It was futile. After a successful 74-year run, her restaurant was going under.

"My team, my daughter, myself, our consultants, the harsh reality set in that we couldn't go on. We couldn't be open enough to make the money back. We couldn't take catering jobs because we didn't have enough help to put the food out," said Lindsey.

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Not being able to keep the dining room open and capitalize on catering opportunities was too big of a cut to the restaurant's revenue.  Every day they stayed open would be more money lost.

"Why couldn't we have had one last hurrah at Lindsey's?" I asked. "Everyone could have ordered one final bowl of bisque.  We could have eaten one last turkey dinner and one more order of onion rings."

Lindsey said that giving the public and her employees a heads-up about the situation wouldn't work.

"We wouldn't have had enough workers to do it," she said.

She feared that employees would just up and leave, making an already impossible worker shortage even worse. Employees, for their part, said they were upset by the abrupt closure and the way they learned of it.

Lindsey says the entire property, including the restaurant, the parking lots and four homes, have been put up for sale.