MADERA – What do you do if two restaurants with similar concepts fail within three years of each other in the same location? If you are the management team behind The Commons Shopping Center at the Madera Fair Grounds, Newman Development Group, you tear down the building and turn to In-n-Out Burgers. Within the next six months, the Sugar Pine Smokehouse Restaurant will be leveled to the ground. In its place, the home of the California iconic Double-Double Cheeseburger will rise from the rubble.
Rumors have been floating around Madera for months about where the new In-n-Out Burgers would end up in Madera. It was even a topic in a recent Town Hall meeting that aired on www.BVNRadio.com and streamed on The Valley Guy's Podcast on Spotify. During the Town Hall, the Director of the Madera County Economic Development Commission, Bobby Kahn, could not give much information, sighting that he was (at that time) under a non-disclosure agreement with the Baldwin Park-based burger company. However, Kahn did say that he expected an In-n-Out to open in Madera sometime within the 2022-23 time-frames. But today, new information came out of Madera City Hall. According to Madera City Manager Arnoldo Rodriguez, "In-n-Out has submitted plans for a new building where the existing Sugar Pine Smokehouse is located."
The Sugar Pine Smokehouse has been struggling after closures of indoor dining due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which hurt its ability to stay current with its bills. While BVN has not been able to reach anyone with Newman Development to ascertain a timeline for the closure, someone close to the restaurant said if customers have any gift-cards or KMJ Sweet Deal Certificates, "They should use them quickly."
This is the second restaurant to fail at this location since 2018, when the Madera County Sheriff's Department evicted the tenants of Cool Hand Luke's. Dustin Franklin, who owned the Madera Tap House near Home Depot with his then-wife Tracey, opened the Sugar Pine Smokehouse in late 2018 with his silent partners. Unfortunately, those silent partners who stopped being silent in late 2019 orchestrated a business takeover, removing Franklin from the restaurant he worked hard to create.
The restaurant had issues with the city of Madera's Code Enforcement division when they violated their conditional use permit with their outdoor stage area and state-mandates shutting down indoor dining. The restaurant also conducted a Clam Chowder cook-off for over 500 guests in the middle of the pandemic, without seeking permits. The restaurant not only had legal challenges with the city, earlier this year, a member of the restaurant wait staff alleges a customer sexually assaulted her. When this waitress complained to management, the single mother was fired from her position. She filed a complaint with the California Department of Fair Housing and Labor. The restaurant owners offered her a $5000 settlement to make the issue go away, but only if she would sign a non-disclosure agreement. The waitress refused to settle and has hired a Fresno law firm to represent her.
In the recent past, when asked what Madera residents would like to see in our town, In-n-Out Burgers has topped the list as the most requested company. One family has independently owned the burger restaurant since its inception in 1948. While most of their locations are wholly owned by the company, the Madera location will operate under a lease with Newman, who manages the shopping center for the Madera District Fair and the state of California.
