There’s one less place to get a steak dinner in Visalia as Tahoe Joe’s Famous Steakhouse continues cutting down.
The long-declining 31-year-old Central Valley franchise now has only two locations, Fresno and Bakersfield.
The state of the franchise
The Visalia Tahoe Joe’s closed quietly Monday, Sept. 21, with no social media announcement but an update on the restaurant’s website noting the closure.
The franchise was started in 1995 by noted Central Valley restaurateur David Fansler, who also founded Pismo’s Coastal Grill, Westwood’s BBQ & Spice Co. and Yosemite Ranch. Fansler sold Tahoe Joe’s to Fresh Acquisitions, the parent company of Old Town Buffet, which held the franchising rights until going through bankruptcy in 2021.
From there, BBQ Holdings bought Tahoe Joe’s at auction for $5.2 million, according to reports at the time. There were five Tahoe Joe’s restaurants still open when BBQ Holdings acquired it; the San Luis Obispo restaurant closed just months before the purchase was announced.
Tahoe Joe’s changed hands again when MTY Food Group acquired BBQ Holdings a year later, and two more locations closed during the acquisition: Rocklin and Roseville. MTY, a multinational corporation, still holds the rights to Tahoe Joe’s and lists it on its website as one of the company’s many American brands, including Baja Fresh Mexican Grill, Cold Stone Creamery, Papa Murphy’s and Wetzel’s Pretzels.
The last two Tahoe Joe’s locations are at 7006 N Cedar Ave. in Fresno and 9000 Ming Ave. in Bakersfield. The original Fresno Tahoe Joe’s location, which was at 2700 West Shaw Ave., closed in 2016, and the spot was later taken over by Culichi Town, a Sinaloa-style Mexican restaurant which also closed earlier this year.
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Amber Hair (they/them) is the food and restaurants reporter and influencer. Amber has been in professional journalism for more than a decade, writing for outlets like the Orlando Sentinel, The Villages Daily Sun, the Pacific Coast Business Times and others. In their spare time, they enjoy going to concerts, reading and spending time with their cats.