Feast BBQ in New Albany is closing, and the last day will be Wednesday, March 28.

Happy times.

Rumors have been swirling for months, but today Ryan Rogers finally made the formal announcement. It's sad, but I'm looking forward to what comes next in this prime space that share a wall with The Exchange.

Nostalgic? Here's the 2012 press release, and a column of mine from the same year.

More details as they emerge ... for now, just the facts.

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Feast BBQ

It is with clear eyes, but a heavy heart that I announce our final day of operation in New Albany will be on Wednesday March 28th. Feast BBQ outgrew our space in New Albany the day we opened the doors to 300+ people there on July 4th, 2012. We have been faced with the challenge of operating a restaurant in too small of a space, with nowhere to expand, ever since.

I am appreciative of the overwhelming support we have received over the past 5 and a half years from the community as well as from our employees present and past. I look forward to putting the building in the hands of someone who will continue to steward the historic property for years to come.

I hope that you will continue to join us at our larger Feast BBQ - Market St. NULU location in the NuLu neighborhood in Louisville (909 East Market Street). We are also working diligently to finish building an additional Feast BBQ location in downtown Jeffersontown’s historic Gaslight Square District (10318 Taylorsville Road) that we hope to have open this summer.

Today, we operate three other restaurants (Royals Hot Chicken & bar Vetti) and employ over 120 people across HiCotton Hospitality. We will continue to support our mission of supporting our staff members by covering the costs of shift meals, we pay a starting wage above minimum wage, offer employee discounts to our other restaurants, and help to cover the costs of healthcare for our full-time employees. All of the employees in New Albany have been offered jobs at our other restaurants.

I would personally like to extend a special thank you to Steve Resch, Jerry Finn and Horseshoe Foundation of Floyd County, my Family, Phillip Beaman at Monroe Shine & Co., Inc., Keith Pulliam with Applegate Fifer Pulliam LLC, our first year employees, and the myriad of others that took a chance and supported a 26 year old who had no idea what he was doing.

As a special thank you, please enjoy $3 Beers Tonight (Saturday), $2 Beers on Tuesday, and $1 Beers on Wednesday. While they last. We certainly don’t want to waste any beer.

- Ryan