5 shuttered Burger King locations to reopen across metro Detroit

Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press
Updated ·2 min read
Five previously shuttered Burger King restaurants in metro Detroit are slated to repopen this year.
Five previously shuttered Burger King restaurants in metro Detroit are slated to repopen this year.

A local franchisee has plans to reopen five of the 26 metro Detroit Burger King locations that shuttered in April.

Union Burgers LLC, a Livonia-based franchisee that already operates five Burger King locations in metro Detroit, announced it acquired and reopened the first of the five in Warren at 2411 Eight Mile Road on Tuesday.

As part of the acquisition, the restaurants will be newly “refreshed and remodeled” locations, according to a news release.

“At Union Burgers LLC, we are passionate about refreshing and remodeling restaurants to keep guests coming back for years to come and creating an environment for our teams that they are proud to be a part of,” said John Pastor, CEO of Union Burgers LLC in the release.

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Pastor hails from southeast Michigan and has served three consecutive terms in the Michigan House of Representatives and on the Livonia City Council.

Reopening the locations also means an expected 150-200 jobs, Union Burgers said. Other locations to reopen this year are in Detroit, Ferndale and two in Southfield.

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The 26 Burger King locations that closed were operated by franchisee EYM King of Michigan, based in Irving, Texas. In March, EYM King of Michigan announced it would permanently cease operations in Michigan due to “unforeseen business circumstances.” The Texas-based franchisee also cited failure to reach an agreement with Burger King Corp., according to a WARN notice sent to Michigan’s labor department.

Most of the stores that closed were in Detroit. The closings, which began on March 17 and were expected to be completed by April 15, resulted in more than 400 job losses, including general managers, shift managers and team members.

Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. Subscribe to the Free Press.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 5 Burger King locations to reopen in metro Detroit: Where they are