David Alan Bubbus News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Employment in the restaurant industry in Arkansas has finally exceeded pre-pandemic levels.

Aug. 7 will be the last day of business for Soul Fish Cafe in Little Rock, which posted Sunday morning on Facebook, "Since all good things come to an end, so is our lease. We didn't agree on renewal." Manager Jeffery Williams, in announcing the closure date, thanked customers and "everyone who has supported us over the past six years," and says he will send members of his "awesome crew who will be looking for work" to shorthanded area restaurants that have been posting job openings.

Homer's Kitchen Table, formerly Homer's West, opened Tuesday in its new location, half of the defunct Franke's Cafeteria in the Market Place Shopping Center in Little Rock. It's the end result of a long, complicated move up the street from the Galleria Shopping Center.

The Keet family and their JTJ Restaurants group are among the buyers of Breckenridge Village Shopping Center in Little Rock, part of a consortium called KBK-Breck LLC that also includes the Kelley Group, Dale V. “Bo” Briggs and the Bodnar Group of Nashville, Tenn.

Arkansas restaurateurs, already contending with a resurgent pandemic, are also wrestling with the challenge of inflation, which is putting pressure on thin profit margins and has caused some to raise menu prices.