Moe's Southwest Grill closes

COLUMBIA — The light has gone out permanently on the Moe’s “open” sign in downtown Columbia. Customers stood bewildered at signs posted on the door at lunchtime Thursday.

“It was a shot in the dark,” Manager Moses Cortes said. “We had just placed an order for delivery.”

Cortes said he and owner R.J. Williams are looking for an investor to come in immediately, and the asking price is $60,000, he said.

The restaurant, which is part of a larger chain, closed unexpectedly Wednesday night after Williams and others involved with the establishment met in Joplin to discuss the store’s financial state.

They decided that the location was not making sufficient funds to profit after paying royalties and advertisements to the Moe’s corporation. Ten percent of the monthly profit goes toward the corporation, which Cortes said does not support its satellite locations.

The building is paid for until June 15, and Cortes said he has no intention of giving it up any time soon.

“I am upset to my core,” Cortes said. “Something’s gotta give.”

Cortes, a chef by trade, said the restaurant was doing fine financially. His vision now is to shed the Moe’s Southwest Grill name and reopen under a new name. He would like to offer foods with a more authentic flavor, similar to the former Moe’s menu but with “tweaked cute names and better flavor,” he said.

But first he needs to take off the Moe’s logos and trademarks and find an investor to fulfill his vision.

John Green, a patron of Moe’s, said he is not surprised by the sudden closing.

“Every other time, there’d be new staff and they would be out of stuff — soda, commodities, etc.,” said Green, who works across the street from Moe’s and frequently ate there.

Cortes said he was disappointed with the quality of meats and other ingredients he received from the Moe’s corporation. He began buying his own ingredients and alternating between more authentic resources and what he called the “bland, expensive ingredients from the corporation,” which he says is when customers became disgruntled at the lack of consistency in taste and quality.

MU student Andrew Lang said he liked Moe’s because it was cheaper than surrounding Mexican-style food establishments.

“I just don’t understand,” Lang said. “People are going to be confused and angry.”

If Cortes finds an investor, he promises to bring a menu similar to Moe’s but with better taste and more affordable prices.

“We have a starting point,” he said. “We had to close down in order to come back stronger without the corporation name.”

Moe’s is not the first competing downtown location to close; Shake’s Frozen Custard closed its downtown store last year.