Aug. 27, 2020

The new franchise owner of Grand Junction Grilled Subs is closing the restaurant.

“It is with regret that, despite all our efforts and your support, we have not been able to bounce back from the events of the last few months,” the business said in a post on social media.

The restaurant at 5312 E. Arrowhead Parkway will be open through Saturday.

Josh Tordsen took over the franchise April 1 in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tordsen also owns Gigabytes Technology, which provides security alarm systems, and had worked with Grand Junction as a client since its beginning. Kathy Davis brought the North Dakota-based concept, which her best friend had started, to Sioux Falls in May 2017.

“They have been my customers since day one,” Tordsen said. “Since before they opened, I was working in the restaurant putting in cameras. I knew the owners, I knew the employees, I knew the problems. I knew a lot about it.”

He struck an agreement in January to buy the business.

“I could have backed out of the deal at the last moment, but I still saw a path forward,” Tordsen said. “But we couldn’t make it.”

As the city lifted COVID-19 related restrictions in May on the number of customers in businesses, sales began to climb.

“This month, we were looking at getting close,” Tordsen said. “We were still $1,000 from breaking even, and we really worked hard to make it happen. We fought for every dime that we earned.”

Tordsen added online ordering, expanded the number of delivery providers and bought less than $1,000 worth of equipment to operate two portable food stands that could grill sandwiches at businesses or events.

The stand will be out for lunch Friday at T&L Auto Sales on West 12th Street. lunch Saturday at Autoland near Maple Street and I-29, and for dinner Saturday at A Homestead Brew near Valley Springs.

“We had planned for a three-month break even. Under normal circumstances, it would have been a one-month break even, but we extended it to three. We figured that we knew what the circumstances were when we closed the deal. We made a few changes and could float for three months, but at the end of June, we were out of money. We made an 11th hour deal with the landlord to go through July and into August. If we could have broke even, we could have kept going.”

Through Saturday, hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. After that, fans of the grilled subs will have to drive to North Dakota where a half-dozen locations remain.