Updated October 18, 2026, 12:38 p.m. ET
If you’re craving beef and gravy, head over to Sign of the Beefcarver soon.
A longtime Royal Oak restaurant, located on Woodward Avenue for nearly 70 years, is closing its doors.
Early on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 18, a Facebook post announced with “a heavy heart” that its last day would be Oct. 25, the owners wrote. Within the first hour of posting, more than 325 comments followed, expressing sadness, stories of going to the restaurant and its food as well as working there.
An employee who answered the phone Sunday morning said he learned of the closure when he arrived at work.
“Due to extreme financial pressure from rising food prices, not the least of which is the historically high price of roast beef, our namesake menu, we can no longer bear the resulting losses,” the message read.
Sign of the Beefcarver, the owners wrote, has also struggled to survive since the pandemic.
“Since the government imposed the shutdown due to Covid and this caused havoc in running a restaurant and attracting customers, Beefcarver has struggled to survive. »
Restaurants, as well as consumers, have faced high food costs, particularly beef, over the past year.
“Between excessive food costs and the added burden of onerous government policies, we can no longer absorb excessive operating costs while still providing our customers with a desirable value proposition,” the message read.
Owner says prices have impacted his business
Since 1988, Jay Joliat, the son of the late founder, has operated the Royal Oak restaurant.
“Beef is at an all-time high,” Joliat told the Free Press on Sunday, October 18. “Energy and everything else is at unprecedented levels. Between the cost of food, labor, energy… it’s become too much.”
Jack Joliat and Bob LaJoie founded the restaurant in 1956, after purchasing the Woodward Avenue property.
It was in 1957 that the Royal Oak location began life as Sign of the Beefeater, an “Early American” themed restaurant that resembled a cafeteria but with waitress service. Years later, the name would become Sign of the Beefcarver after a lengthy legal battle with the makers of Beefeater Gin.
Jay Joliat said it was post-war and his father was looking to start a business and came up with the idea to be different.
“The idea of the beef buffet was a niche that didn’t exist at the time,” Joliat explains.
In the early 1960s, Joliat said, a roast beef dinner cost $1.98. Now, depending on what you order, it costs between $15 and $20, he said.
Ultimately, more than a dozen locations dot the Detroit metro area. All have closed. In 2018, a Dearborn location closed, citing declining business, leaving Royal Oak as the first and last remaining location.
At one time, Joliat said she employed more than 1,000 people across the chain.
Among the many loyal employees, some had worked in a restaurant for more than 30 years and several for more than 20 years, which Joliat said is “unusual in the restaurant industry.”
Joliat would like to sincerely thank all the loyal customers over the years, saying it was difficult, as the son of the founder, to close the restaurant.
“It’s a pillar for a lot of people,” he said. “The interaction with (the servers) is special…it was a unique atmosphere.”
Joliat said they own the building and are studying what to do.
(This story has been updated with additional information).
Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant editor Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: selasky@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @SusanMariecooks. Subscribe to the Eat Drink Freep newsletter for scoop on food and restaurants in Metro Detroit.
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