Another Cheeseburger In Paradise Bites The Dust

February 14th, 2008 · 21 Comments

Make that two Cheeseburger In Paradise restaurants that have announced plans this week to close. First, the Asheville, North Carolina location, and now the Lansing, Michigan location that opened two years ago. The parent company, OSI Restaurant Partners Inc., has altered its strategic planning and is closing stores that no longer fit into this new plan according to the Lansing State Journal:

The restaurant, at 5924 W. Saginaw Highway, was closed “because it no longer fits the strategic plans for the Cheeseburger in Paradise brand,” parent company OSI Restaurant Partners Inc. said. The Tampa, Fla.-based company said it will relocate employees to other nearby company restaurants. Among others, OSI owns Outback Steakhouse, which has area locations in Delta Township and Okemos, and Carrabba’s Italian Grill, with a location in Delta Township. Cheeseburger in Paradise opened in Delta Township in 2006.

Cheeseburger in Paradise was founded in August 2002 and is owned by Outback Steakhouse, under a license from Buffett. The “island fantasy” concept features colorful cocktails and live music as well as Key West-style architecture and decor that offer customers an escape from the daily grind.

In 2005, Jimmy Buffett sold his holdings of the chain to Outback Steakhouse, Inc., who previously held a 50% share in the chain. Outback pays a royalty of 4.5 percent of restaurant sales to Buffett.

To find locations and get other information, visit the official homepage of Cheeseburger In Paradise here.

UPDATE: York, PA and Greenville, SC locations closing too. Report other closures by leaving a comment to this post.

Tags: Business Empire · In The News

21 responses so far ↓

1 Michael Austin // Feb 14, 2008 at 6:49 am

Just can’t believe this small piece of paradise in this sometimes frozen tundra is lost. Once again, I will need to put on my parka to grill for a burger fix. Sad, Sad indeed.
2 Kimberly K // Feb 14, 2008 at 8:13 am

The cheeseburger concept was hot when they first opened in Indianapolis when a TRUE Buffett fan ran the company unfortunately OSI now has new mgmt that are NOT the right fit….
3 John H. // Feb 16, 2008 at 5:30 pm

Sad to see it go–truly a unique atmosphere amid an ever increasingly homogenized service industry. But, what does one expect from the corporate mentality.
(plus, you had to wonder if something was up when they quit putting Heinz 57 on the signature burger…shameful!)
4 Lea Ann H. // Feb 16, 2008 at 5:34 pm

We drove past the Lansing location today and saw the boarded up windows…winter just got a little colder.
5 Miguel L. // Feb 16, 2008 at 11:39 pm

I completely agree with all of the above comments. Cheeseburger in Paradise was definitely something different with a warming atmosphere in the lansing area. I was a regular customer at this restaurant and am extremely sad to see it go. When I drove past the establishment to see it borded up I have to agree.. winter did get a little colder.
6 Ted Halpin // Feb 21, 2008 at 12:45 am

Greetings from Kansas City. Reporting another “Toes Up” for the C in P in Leawood, KS. This location closed February 12, 2008 . Very sad to see it leave. As least the local Bud distributor is providing LandShark to the Fred P. Otts down the street.
7 Tara Escobar // Feb 21, 2008 at 8:46 am

I cant believe the asheville cheeseburger in paradise closed. I dont know who is running this biz, but what where they thinking? Unfortunately my every saturday ritual of going to eat my favorite st. barts chicken is over…this great place to eat was my familys favorite too, it was a mistake to close a perfectly good cheeseburger in paradise. i read all the articles, and quite frankly i believe in the solid saying ” the customer is always right ” and the customer should always be pleased. At no point do I agree with the fact that this cheeseburger in paradise wasnt up to ” standards” with the others. Well, when good eats are good eats, my standards are pretty satisfied. And they were extremely satisfied with the asheville cheeseburger in paradise. Crazy fools who closed it, and crazy fools they’ll be.
8 Alana Tishmarsh // Feb 21, 2008 at 8:35 pm

Yep, All boarded up in York PA too, all the signs have gone, just plywood covering every avaulable door and window, its open been open for a year!
9 Chad D. // Feb 27, 2008 at 7:40 am

I live in the upstate of South Carolina,and was a frequent visitor to the CIP location in Greenville,and everytime i was there eating or just rode by,the place was always packed.I just don’t understand why it closed.If anyone can shed some light on as to why some of the CIP’s are closing,please tell me.
10 Kyle K // Feb 29, 2008 at 5:23 pm

Why do they always close the good places to go to eat and have fantastic drinks, going to miss it, Guess I’ll have to stop eating out in G-ville SC
11 Greg Woody // Mar 2, 2008 at 9:58 am

why? The asheville location was always booming and had such a great atmosphere. its a shame that such a unique place has to go belly up yet ur same old cookie cutter steak houses still thrive. no more jerk chicken wrap. whats this world coming to?
12 jon doe // Mar 4, 2008 at 4:54 pm

OSI restraunt partners obviously do not dine in upstate SC bet they have one where they live
13 Sarah // Mar 5, 2008 at 6:53 pm

Greenville had no crowds ! No one knew there was one in town. Bad location and no advertising. With so many places to eat and hang out they needed to do something to have a WOW factor!
14 Tom // Mar 14, 2008 at 9:33 pm

What are you people talking about, this restaurant was horrible ok mabye the atmosphere was kind of cool but who cares the the food sucks!!! for one the burger bun was TWICE the size of the meat, and second they had the worst stringy small ass fries that were small enough for a one year old to eat! bad bad bad, wake up people theres no big loss here!!!
15 Velvet // Mar 14, 2008 at 9:37 pm

Restaurants come and go. This is no loss. I went there once and was greatly disappointed. I agree wtih Tom in that if the hambuger doesn’t fit the bun then duh! increase the size of the burger or cut the edges off of the damn bun! You will all be happy with going to Red Robin or Cheddars. Hell, even McDonald’s had bigger burger sthan that! You know how it is in America, bigger is better and that goes for alot of other things too!!
16 JB // Mar 17, 2008 at 9:41 am

Our York, PA location was packed full EVERY NIGHT. It makes no sense, in any strategy, to close such a successful business.
We didn’t just lose a restaurant…
17 miguel // Mar 26, 2008 at 11:08 am

I thought the Leawood location did not have a clue
as to what the atmosphere should’ve been. Met some great employees…….
18 mike b. // Apr 2, 2008 at 10:16 am

i went to the one in york, pa. a couple times and had no problems.you can never make everone happy.there are always one or two that complain about anything.the place was always crowded even though it was in a bad location>
19 Daniel S // Apr 29, 2008 at 3:56 pm

I was one of the Bartenders at the Lansing, MI location. I agree with what most of you have said. Yes it was over priced, but the drinks were great, and it was unique. I don’t think our name gave us any justice either. There was a lot of other things on the menu other than cheeseburgers that were awsome, but seldom tried.
I want to thank everyone for your patronage.
To all those that dont think a half pound burger is big enough, good luck with your heart attack in the future! Most people couldnt finish the damn things!
20 Laura // May 14, 2008 at 4:32 pm

I’m sad to hear about the Leawood, Kansas, location closing.

I discovered CIP in the Washington, D.C. area,where it was delicious, and a fun place to go.

Honestly, the Leawood location had TERRIBLE service, which is probably why they closed. I could never get my husband to go back there because our food was served cold, and we waited forever. Several of my friend confirmed similar experiences.

Still, I’ll miss my mini bugers and key lime pie.
21 SMP // May 15, 2008 at 10:13 pm

I was a insider in this organization— the key word being was….. I can tell you first hand that this place was poorly managed from the top. Too many compromises were made from the beginning and too many weak players were brought on to manage the restaurants. After the first restaurant was opened for a year (Indy) Debbie left I should have known something was wrong…….. I opened the company’s 31st restaurant to overwhelming crowds…then the business just died…… No money for anyone…… Jimmy sold his half………Then Dennis left the company….. The next day the company went private…… This concept is horribly run and too many top exucetives are jumping ship…. Maybe Applebee’s will buy it…… Sorry I ever wasted my time thinking this was gonna be the next big thing….