Cafe Santa Fe Closes in Fayetteville

The Cafe Santa Fe restaurant in downtown Fayetteville closed on May 10.

The restaurant was the last one operated by Tom Flores and Emad Damen, the owners of what had been CSF Franchise Group of Fayetteville. The last Cafe Santa Fe owned by CSF, located in Springdale’s Center Point Place shopping center, closed on March 2. In 2000, CSF had 16 Cafe Santa Fes in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri and revenue of more than $9 million.

Two Cafe Santa Fes remain open — in Eureka Springs and Benton — but those are owned by former CSF franchisees.

Flores, Damen and CSF filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2002 and changed their filings this past December to Chapter 7, which usually means total liquidation. Flores initially claimed assets of $873,199 and liabilities of $10.5 million. Damen claimed assets of $264,574 and liabilities of $11.7 million. In both cases, the personal liabilities included all claims against CSF.

Flores and Damen reopened the downtown Fayetteville restaurant in 2002 under a different limited liability company name, Cafe Santa Fe Downtown, in an attempt to keep it out of the bankruptcy proceedings. The location at 25 E. Center St. was home to the first Cafe Santa Fe, which Flores purchased in 1988.

The downtown Cafe Santa Fe brought in $237,218 in sales for eight months of last year, according to city tax records. The restaurant owners apparently didn’t pay taxes for four months in 2003, so the $237,218 amount was the year’s total.