Rising beef prices have pressured steakhouse chains to raise menu prices that can discourage consumers from dining on ribeye steaks and prime rib in their restaurants.
Beef prices increased by 5.9% year-over-year in August 2026, according to the USDA, making it harder for many restaurants to maintain profitable businesses and keep their doors open. Beef and veal prices are forecast to increase by 9.4% in 2026.
Among the steakhouse chains implementing plans to improve business performance, which include closing underperforming locations, are Bloomin’ Brands’ Outback Steakhouse and MTY Food Group’s Tahoe Joe’s.
Tahoe Joe’s closes Visalia location
30-year-old steakhouse chain Tahoe Joe’s closed another location as the Fresno, Calif.-based company quietly shuttered its Visalia, Calif., restaurant on Sept. 21, 2026.
The restaurant, located at 4015 W. Caldwell Ave., posted a notice on its front door informing customers of the location’s closing.
“Thank You for your patronage over the years. Tahoe Joe’s Visalia is now closed. Please visit our Tahoe Joe’s locations in Fresno and Bakersfield,” the sign read, according to the Business Journal of Fresno County.
Two steakhouse locations remain
The Visalia closing leaves the chain, which once had at least 12 locations, with just the two locations in Fresno and Bakersfield. The chain has closed 10 locations since shuttering a Folsom, Calif., location in 2012.
An employee of the Visalia restaurant told KSEE-TV that she and over 30 employees were given no advance noticed of layoffs as she arrived at work at 10 a.m., facing an abrupt meeting with a regional director on Sept. 21.
“He didn’t waste any time…just basically said, ‘We’re closing the restaurant today, effective immediately,’” Crystal Ervin, who worked at the restaurant for 15 years, told KSEE.
The regional director credited a failure to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason for the closure but did not explain the lack of notice to the employees.
Chain opened in 1996
The chain’s original owner, David Fansler, opened the chain in January 1996, according to the company website, and sold the company to HomeTown Buffet owners Fresh Acquisitions LLC in 2001, the Fresno Business Journal reported.
Tahoe Joe’s owner Fresh Acquisitions shuttered its Folsom, Calif., restaurant in May 2012, the Sacramento Business Journal reported. It closed two more restaurants, including the company’s first-ever location at West Shaw Avenue in Fresno, as well as a location in Pleasant Hill, Calif., in 2016, according to the East Bay Times.
The restaurant chain also opened its first Southern California location in Chino, Calif., in July 2014, the company revealed in a statement, but has since closed the location.
Keeps closing locations
Fresh Acquisitions filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2021 and closed the Modesto, Calif., Tahoe Joe’s in July 2021, the Modesto Bee reported, and the San Luis Obispo Tahoe Joe’s in August 2021, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reported.
The bankrupt restaurant owner sold the steakhouse chain to BBQ Holdings Inc., the parent of Famous Dave’s, out of bankruptcy in October 2021.
After buying the Tahoe Joe’s chain, BBQ Holdings closed locations in Vacaville, Rocklin, and Roseville in 2022. BBQ Holdings subsequently sold the chain to Montreal-based MTY Food Group in September 2022, according to the Business Journal.
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