Crispers, the popular soup, salad, and sandwich chain that started in South Lakeland in 1989, is closing its doors permanently, today.
Lakeside Village location in Lakeland confirmed the news Saturday morning.
Crispers was founded in Lakeland in 1989 at the Merchants Walk shopping center, and at one time had as many as 35 restaurants across Florida.
Lakeland-based Publix made an equity investment in Crispers in 2002 and then again in 2004 before purchasing the chain three years later and operating it as a wholly-owned subsidiary.
In 2008, the former CEO of the company was convicted of embezzling more than $400,000 from the company. On May 10, 2011, Publix announced they had reached an agreement to sell Crispers to Healthy Food Concepts, LLC and the deal was completed in July 2011. Healthy Food Concepts LLC is a company formed by Miami-based private investment firm Boyne Capital.
As of Saturday, only three restaurants remained in the chain: one in Lakeland, one in Winter Haven, and another in Brandon.
Also, Silver Ring Cafe will not be joining Crispers Downtown after all. We were just informed that Crispers pulled our lease. We were only told it was a corporate decision. That is the only explanation that we got.
The Silver Ring Cafe ownership is brokenhearted that this happened. We were looking forward to a new beginning for the Silver Ring Cafe. We don’t know where we’ll go from here or if there will even be a Silver Ring Cafe anymore.
We want each and everyone one of you to know how much you meant to us through the years. How much we appreciated your business. We’re going to miss everyone so much. Thank you for a great 36 years!!