Hunter Steakhouse in Santa Rosa closes

Santa Rosa's Hunter Steakhouse is the latest restaurant to fall victim to rising food costs and the stumbling economy, closing its doors Wednesday after 18 years in business.

The San Diego-based chain that owned the restaurant declared bankruptcy in May, listing $26 million in debts and $16 million in assets.

The restaurant, which employed more than 40 people according to a company financial report, served its last steak Tuesday night. Contents of the Victorian-style dining spot on Cleveland Avenue will be sold at an auction today.

The building, which has been a restaurant under several names since 1978, also is for sale.

The restaurant's owner, publicly traded Steakhouse Partners Inc., operated nearly two dozen restaurants in California, Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina and Utah, mostly under the Hungry Hunter, Hunter Steakhouse, Mountain Jack's and Carvers brands.

The mid-to-upscale restaurants specialized in prime rib, steaks and seafood.

Four major U.S. restaurant chains have closed their doors so far this year, as hard-pressed consumers find themselves with less cash for dining out.

In April, the Baker's Square restaurant in Santa Rosa shut down after its Denver-based corporate owner declared bankruptcy.

Last month, the parent company of Bennigan's, an Irish-themed bar and grill with about 200 locations nationwide, declared bankruptcy. A sister brand, Steak & Ale, also will close.

A combination of tight credit, rising costs and dwindling traffic is pinching the restaurant industry. Sit-down "casual dining" restaurants, which offer food and service that are a cut above fast-food outlets, are among the hardest hit.

About a third of consumers say they're dining out less often because they need to save money, according to a survey by Chicago-based consulting firm Technomic.

Food and labor costs are rising, and tight credit is making it harder for restaurant companies to borrow money.

Steakhouse Partners Chief Financial Officer Joe Wulkowicz did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday, but the company's regulatory filings show it has been struggling financially for several years.

It filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002 and sold some of its restaurants to satisfy creditors. The reorganized company continued to default on debt payments, however, and earlier this year said it needed more financing to continue business.

The company lost $5.7 million in 2007.

It's unclear whether all of Steakhouse Partners' restaurants have closed, but a Hunter Steakhouse location in Fairfield and a Carver's Creek steakhouse in Raleigh, N.C., also shut their doors this week.

The company's Santa Rosa location opened in 1990 as a Hungry Hunter and later changed its name to Hunter Steakhouse.

The restaurant was originally built in 1978 as a family-style dining spot called The Big Yellow House. In 1986 it became W.H. Frazier's, a seafood restaurant.

You can reach Staff Writer Steve Hart at 521-5205 or steve.hart@pressdemocrat.com.