Paula Deen’s Savannah Eateries Were Abruptly Closed After Over 30 Years
Former Food Network chef Paula Deen announced on August 1 that both of her restaurants in Savannah, Georgia, had shut down.
This announcement regarding The Lady & Sons and The Chicken Box was sudden, with a message on her website and social media pages noting she and her sons, Jamie and Bobby, had made this decision just one day prior, on July 31.
The Lady & Sons was originally established in 1989 as The Bag Lady — a catering service touting delivery — and soon became The Lady, offering dining out of a Best Western.
By 1996, The Lady & Sons had taken off, and Paula was beginning her climb to fame.
While the restaurant that ultimately led to her becoming a household name has closed, as well as her 2023 restaurant The Chicken Box, she and her sons remain in the restaurant business.
“We will now focus our attention on the four Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen locations across the country,” she wrote.
Closing Two Of Her Restaurants
Writing in her announcement online that July 31 “was the last day of service for The Lady & Sons and The Chicken Box,” she stated:
“Thank you for all the great memories and for your loyalty over the past 36 years. We have endless love and gratitude for every customer who has walked through our doors. We are equally grateful to our incredible staff — past and present — whose hard work, care, and hospitality made The Lady & Sons what it was.”
She added, “Savannah will always be our home, and we’ll always be here to support our wonderful community.”
Writing about her life on the restaurant’s old website, Paula said of its origins in 1989, “I feel as though I have two birthdays: the first one on January 19, 1947, and the other on June 19, 1989 … the day that with the help of my sons, Jamie and Bobby, we began our business, The Bag Lady.”
That business was started with only $200 as Paula neared divorce, with the chef noting, “I spent $50 on groceries, about $40 on a cooler, and the rest on a business license and incidentals. While the children were out running their routes, I was in the kitchen cleaning it from top to bottom, and beginning the next day’s preparations.”
By 1996, The Lady & Sons had its official grand opening, and it would be only six years later — with a few cookbooks in-between — that she would become a Food Network star, with Paula’s Home Cooking airing its first episode in 2002.
Watch Paula Deen give a 2024 tour of The Lady & Sons, here:
About Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen
With the Savannah-based restaurants The Lady & Sons and The Chicken Box closing, Paula and her sons are now focusing on their Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen Locations.
Located in Nashville, Tennessee; Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Branson, Missouri, these restaurants offer her family recipes with the guarantee of dessert.
Concluding her message about the closure of The Lady & Sons, Paula said that she and her will “continue visiting [Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen locations] regularly,” with the Branson location set to see her on August 8.
Read her full August 1 announcement, here:
See the menu for the Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen locations, here.
Paula’s decision to shut down The Lady & Sons and The Chicken Box in Savannah does not affect her Paula Deen Store, which has a location in the city.