Mere weeks after rebranding its Selby Avenue location into Bar Revival, focusing on Italian beef sandwiches and tavern pizzas, the restaurant formerly known as Revival and all its sister locations have closed.

Chef/owner Thomas Boemer said it was a tough day for him and everyone associated with the eatery, which was known for its crisp fried chicken, mac and cheese, burgers and other southern favorites.

“It’s a real tough time for all of our restaurant friends and community,” Boemer said. “Everyone’s struggling to find footing in an ever-changing and difficult time. It’s just a really tough time for restaurants. Even up to the last day we were working with all our financial partners trying to find a way forward.”

The past few months were the nail in the coffin for the restaurants, Boemer said.

“It was a really slow holiday season,” he said. “January has been the slowest we have seen in the history of this company … We had exciting plans for the future so it’s just really sad.”

Chef Thomas Boemer painted this mural at Bar Revival in St. Paul. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)

Specifically, Boemer said, costs in every aspect of the business continued to rise while customers’ spending power declined as people’s pocketbooks were feeling the squeeze of inflation, higher interest rates and soaring housing costs.

“Every single cost that we have has drastically increased and is still increasing,” he said. “It hasn’t stopped. When you combine that with where we started a year ago with a massive labor shortage, which pushed the labor cost and wage exponentially … all the costs are going up and you’re racing to follow them. And over the past year, you’re seeing the effects of that, and it’s gotten just insanely expensive to go out to dinner.”

In addition to St. Paul, the Minneapolis and St. Louis Park eateries have also been shuttered. The restaurant would have marked its 10th anniversary (the original location was in Minneapolis) next month.

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