Local Quodoba Mexican Grill One of 13 to Shut Down

A nearby Mexican-food chain restaurant will close its doors as part of a company restructuring, Chicago Grid reports.

Owners will shutter 18 of the 26 Qdoba Mexican Grill locations in the Chicago area, including on St. Charles’ East Side, 2701 E. Main St., St. Charles, not far from where the Borders store went down a few years ago.

The closures are set to occur at 3 p.m. Friday, Chicago Grid reports, saying the restaurant chain posted the announcement Wednesday on its Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Qdoba Mexican Grill, 2701 E. Main St., St. Charles, is among 13 suburban and five Chicago restaurants that will close. According to Chicago Grid, San Diego-based parent company Jack in the Box Inc. announced last week that it would close 67 company-owned restaurants.

Other suburban closings are in Downers Grove, Aurora, Wheaton, Woodridge, Glen Ellyn, River Forest, Oak Lawn, Orland Park, Bloomingdale and Hillside,

“By closing these locations and optimizing our company footprint, we can be more effective in focusing our advertising and marketing resources to support existing and planned restaurants in our core markets where we have high levels of brand awareness,” Qdoba President Tim Casey said in a release. “We also expect to provide an even better dining experience for our guests as our operations teams concentrate their efforts on supporting these markets.”

The company also said it will open up to 145 new Qdoba restaurants nationwide through 2014, with 70 to 75 locations planned by the end of September, Chicago Grid  reported. It noted that Qdoba owns 340 of its 647 restaurants, with 307 operated by franchisees.

Chicago Grid  also created a Google Map of the closing locations.

This post was reported and written by St. Charles Patch Editor Ted Schnell.