New Plan for Old P.O. and Other Restaurant News

Chuckles Owners Plan New Old P.O.

Donna Russell and Bruce Bradshaw have been negotiating with Ron Bumpass to least the historic Old Post Office building in the middle of the downtown Fayetteville square.

“I think they’re going to be our tenant,” Bumpass said but added that the lease had not be signed as of March 11. Bumpass’ mother, Edna Bumpass, owns the 92-year-old building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Bumpass said Russell and Bradshaw plan to call the business the Old Post Office Restaurant. The two currently own Chuckles Restaurant in Springdale.

The Old Post Office is 10,000 SF in size, which includes a 4,500-SF basement.

Bumpass said the new tenants plan to serve lunch and dinner weekdays and a brunch on Sundays. He said they plan to buy as many fresh vegetables as they can from the Farmer’s Market on the downtown square.

The upstairs will be used as a “white-cloth restaurant” at night, Bumpass said. Jazz and blues entertainment will be provided occasionally.

The basement of the building will be open as a sports bar when important games are televised.

Bumpass evicted Hog City Diner from the building on June 1, 2002, after the restaurant owners fell behind on lease payments. The building has been vacant since then.

The building served as Fayetteville’s Post Office from 1911 until the 1970s. In 1979, it was opened as a fine-dining restaurant with a disco in the basement.

Jimmy Rapert, who owns JR’s Pizzeria and Lightbulb Club in Fayetteville, bought the Old Post Office Restaurant in 1995 and sold it to The Cafe Co., doing business as Hog City Diner Co., in August 1997. (The Bumpass family remained owners of the building.)

Hog City Diner opened on April Fools Day, 1998. But Fayetteville residents didn’t seem to take to the downscaled hamburger restaurant in one of the city’s landmark buildings.

Hardee’s Stores Sold to Arby’s

Three Hardee’s restaurants that were owned by Aero Investments of Van Buren were sold on March 5 to U.S. Beef of Tulsa, an Arby’s franchisee.

The restaurants were in Bentonville, Greenwood and Roland, Okla.

Rick Angus, president and sole shareholder of Aero, said he closed all three restaurants between Feb. 18 and Feb. 22 as stipulated by U.S. Beef before the sale went through.

Angus said the Bentonville restaurant was 4,200 SF and included two acres of land. The Greenwood restaurant was 2,400 SF with 30,000 SF of land, and the Hardee’s in Roland was 3,800 SF with one acre of land.

Bill McClard, a real estate agent with Lindsey & Associates of Rogers, said the restaurants had been under contract for the past six months. Neither Angus nor McClard would reveal the sale price.

Angus said the average Hardee’s does about $750,000 per year in sales. Aero still owns the Hardee’s in Van Buren.

Based in St. Louis, Hardee’s currently has about 2,400 stores in 32 states and 11 foreign countries. The chain is a wholly owned subsidiary of CKE Restaurants Inc. of Santa Barbara, Calif. CKE also owns Carl’s Jr., a hamburger chain, and La Salsa, a chain of Mexican restaurants. CKE reported a loss of about $84 million, or $1.66 a share, on sales of $1.44 billion for its fiscal year ended Jan. 28.