Charcoal Grill & Rotisserie, a fixture of Southeastern Wisconsin dining since 1993, has shut down all five of its remaining restaurants, leaving workers without jobs and regulars staring at locked doors with disconnected phone lines. The closures affected locations in West Bend, Oak Creek, Racine, and Burlington, according to its website.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Charcoal Grill's Facebook and Instagram pages have been disabled and that phone numbers for every location have been disconnected. As of Wednesday, no one from any Charcoal Grill & Rotisserie location had responded to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's request for comment on the reasons behind the shutdown. The chain launched its first restaurant in Racine in 1996, according to Urban Milwaukee.
At the Oak Creek location on West Ryan Road, a sign signed by a general manager told customers the restaurant was closed until further notice, per the Journal Sentinel's report. Ashley Schmidt, who managed that location and had worked in the restaurant industry for 18 years, called the closure heartbreaking. She had worked at Charcoal Grill & Rotisserie since early March and, per Ashley Schmidt, lost her job when all locations closed at once.
A Chain Already Shrinking for Years
A Chain Already Shrinking for Years At one point, Charcoal Grill had seven locations across the region, according to a 2021 report, but the footprint had already been shrinking for years. In May 2024, Grafton village officials approved plans to demolish the chain's Port Washington Road restaurant there to make way for a Chase Bank branch, as reported by the Ozaukee Press, which noted that the property owner cited severe staffing difficulties as a factor in that closure.
Before this month's shutdown of its remaining five locations, the chain had also permanently closed its Kenosha outlet on 75th Street back in October 2021, according to community records shared on Reddit's r/Kenosha forum. Just hours before the chain-wide closure was confirmed, signs posted at the West Bend location on West Washington Street claimed the restaurant was only temporarily closed and hoping to reopen after the holiday weekend, according to the Washington County Insider.
Events Preceded the Shutdown
The Washington County Insider reported on the West Bend location's closure status. The same outlet's reporting also noted the restaurant's return to West Bend.
Each shuttered location carried its own local identity. The Oak Creek restaurant was on West Ryan Road. The Burlington location was another of the chain's restaurants, while the Mt. Pleasant location was in western Racine County.
Menu and Legacy
Charcoal Grill & Rotisserie's menu featured items like a charcoal burger, chicken, pizza, brat burger and ribs. According to its website, the company was dedicated to the art of grilling and cooked over seasoned hardwoods and an open flame — a formula that carried the brand from its 1993 opening through three decades in the region.
The sudden collapse follows the permanent closure of The Chancery's last remaining location in Mequon in July, which Hoodline reported at the time. The closure adds another longtime casual dining institution to the region's list of shuttered restaurants.
