Chili's Grill & Bar coming to Cape

After months of rumors and speculation, it has been confirmed a new casual dining restaurant will be built at the intersection of William Street and Mount Auburn Road in Cape Girardeau where another restaurant closed last year.

“We can confirm that Chili’s will be coming to Cape Girardeau,” a spokesperson with Brinker International, parent company of the Chili’s Grill & Bar chain, told the Southeast Missourian in an email Thursday.

The restaurant site is the former location of the now vacant O’Charley’s restaurant building. O’Charley’s closed in early June, a few days after its next-door neighbor, Ruby Tuesday, closed its doors as well. Those restaurants closed when their leases with Drury Southwest, owner of both properties, expired.

O'Charley's is seen May 27, 2019, at 3093 William St. in Cape Girardeau.Southeast Missourian file

Both the O’Charley’s and Ruby Tuesday buildings are scheduled for demolition next month, weather permitting, according to Adrienne Henry, leasing agent for Drury Southwest. Fixtures and furnishings of both restaurants were sold in December through an online auction.

“Chili’s has been interested in our market for several years, seeing it as an opportunity for growth,” she said, adding additional development will be announced in the coming months on the Ruby Tuesday site.

Chili’s focused on the O’Charley’s/Ruby Tuesday location after those restaurants closed, Henry said.

Construction of the new restaurant is expected to start within a matter of weeks after the O’Charley’s and Ruby Tuesday buildings are removed. Brinker International, however, has not indicated when the Cape Girardeau Chili’s will open.

According to the Chili’s website, the chain began as a single location 45 years ago in Dallas, as a “place you’d want to go and hang out with good friends over a burger and a beer.” With the exception of Oregon, Chili’s restaurants can now be found in every state, as well as more than 30 foreign countries. The Chili’s mission, cited on its website, is “delivering burgers, ribs, fajitas and ’ritas like no place else.”

In Missouri, there are Chili’s restaurants in Arnold, Branson, Columbia, Fenton, Florissant, Independence, Jefferson City, Joplin, Kansas City, Kirkwood, Lee’s Summit, Osage Beach, Springfield, St. Joseph, St. Louis and St. Peters. The chain’s closest restaurant to Cape Girardeau is in Carbondale, Illinois.

In addition to Chili’s, Dallas-based Brinker International also owns and operates a chain of restaurants known as Maggiano’s Little Italy.

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