Baton Rouge-based restaurant chain Kolache Kitchen closed its company-operated locations in South Louisiana and Florida on Thursday after a “perfect combination” of a tight labor market, rising inflation and rapid growth forced it to temporarily close its Bocage locations for several months.
The Airline Highway location, privately owned by Ryan Case, will remain open, said Kolaches Kitchen founder Will Edwards.
“It's been a struggle for everybody since COVID started,” Edwards said.
Kolache Kitchen opened 11 years ago near LSU. Kolache is a sweet yeast bread stuffed with fruit or sausage and is a popular breakfast food across Texas. Edwards grew up in Houston and moved to Baton Rouge to attend LSU. He noticed there was a market for Kolaches and breakfast tacos in his hometown.
The restaurant grew in popularity and two more locations were opened, one on Jefferson Highway and one on Airline in New Orleans. A Kolache Kitchen was scheduled to open in Key West, Florida, in spring 2022, which Edwards planned to franchise.
But as Edwards prepared to open a second Kolache Kitchen location in Key West in April 2023, he said it was starting to get hard to keep up with month-to-month operations. “Inflation was going up, and things were getting tighter,” he said.
A defining moment came when Kolaches Kitchen had to temporarily close its Jefferson location because the La Rouge Market location it occupies closed for two months for renovations in the spring of 2023. Edwards said the company lost revenue after Kolaches Kitchen reopened and was unable to rehire the employees who worked there.
The Jefferson store closed permanently in October.
Anticipating a slowdown in business heading into the summer, Edwards said he decided to close all of his Kolache Kitchens locations. “It just made a lot more sense to close up shop, close respectfully and take some time off,” he said.
Edwards said the Airline store is doing well and he is pleased that Case will help grow the Kolache Kitchen brand.
“I plan to bounce back in the future,” he said. “Baton Rouge has been a great place for me.”
