Pete Freedman
Management Swears We’ll See It Again, But Noted ‘Chestaurant’ Tallywackers Has Closed
Before Tallywackers even opened its doors on Lemmon Avenue in Dallas last May, people were so miffed by the concept of a “Hooters for women”, that some in the local media were convinced that the very concept must be some sort of joke.
Not true! The idea was not only real, it was pretty damn successful — at least so far as national attention and stories about celebrating business being good at the time of their one-year anniversary go, anyway. Plus, the general public seemed to get a kick out of the concept, far as we could tell.
So today’s news that Tallywackers has closed — and that it actually did so a couple days ago, rather quietly — comes as a bit of a surprise. Where did things go wrong?
In an interview with Guidelive, Tallywackers owner Rodney Duke, who opened the spot as his “dream restaurant” with the inheritance he received following the passing of his father, said that the closing is simply a temporary matter of the restaurant’s lease being up and his team not necessarily being in love with its current location — a sentiment backed up by a post made to the Tallywackers Facebook page this morning, which indicates that the brass is looking for a “larger and better” location, possibly even in a new city.
Tallywackers’ head of marketing, Winston Lackey, confirms this plan when approached for comment.
“While we are very happy with the success and time spent at our current location, we feel — and have always felt — that 4218 Lemmon Avenue was a temprorary home for Tallywackers,” Lackey says. “[Following] constant feedback about parking, location, occupancy accommodations and other various ‘venue issues,’ we are looking for a new venue that can eliminate all these problems. We sought this opportunity to take everything we’ve learned and all the feedback from our clientele and we are looking to make Tallywackers bigger and better.”
Lackey is indeed adamant that this is not the last we’ve heard from Tallywackers.
“Some may think our temporary closure is final, however that’s not the case,” he adds. “At this time, we have not found another home in Dallas that we feel [is] up to par with our guest’s expectations and our own.”
At this point, Lackey says the spot is talking with various investors from “all across the world” about finding its next home.
“Where exactly our new location will be is to be determined,” Lackey says. “We are taking surveys and doing our research to find the perfect placement. Tallywackers is a unique and fun environment and we want to keep it that way.”