Melt Bar and Grilled shuts down at Easton, ending chain’s presence in Columbus

View a previous report on a lawsuit against Melt Bar and Grilled’s Easton location in the video player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — A bankrupt restaurant chain that focused on grilled cheese sandwiches is no more in Columbus, as photos surfaced of a notice its last shop in the area was closing.

A Redditor posted a photo of the Easton Town Center storefront, located at 4206 Worth Ave., on Friday. Paper signs taped to the front doors announced the closure. The Easton location was one of only two in Columbus, and the company shut down the other in the Short North, at 840 N. High St., in 2022.

“Melt has left the building,” the letters read. “This Melt Bar and Grilled location has been permanently closed. We thank you for years of support.”

Melt’s marketing manager confirmed the Easton closure in an email to NBC4. Company owner Matt Fish, who is navigating bankruptcy proceedings , also shared a statement on the particular location’s shutdown.

“We enjoyed our nearly 10 years at Easton,” Fish wrote. “However it is now more important than
ever to get back to our hometown roots.”

A copy of Melt’s website preserved by the Wayback Machine also shows the rapid change in its locations section over the course of a year. In February 2023, it advertised nine different storefronts — Easton included — throughout Ohio. But checking the present day version, that number had been cut down to five. Three of the remaining brick and mortar locations are in Lakewood, Mentor and Akron, while the site also listed Cleveland booths at Progressive Field and Case Western Reserve University.

The chain’s shop at Easton, in particular, became embroiled in a lawsuit in May over missing its rent payments. The Easton Gateway property company sued over more than $200,000 owed, claiming it sent Melt a notice of unpaid rent on Nov. 9, then a second notice on April 10. No attorney was on file for Fish or Melt in Franklin County Common Pleas Court records, but on July 5, the company’s bankruptcy filing came into play and halted the lawsuit. Gateway’s case against Melt won’t be able to run its course until after the federal proceeding finishes. Still, records showed attorneys scheduled a case management conference for Sept. 5.

The cost to lease buildings came up in Melt’s bankruptcy filings from June. Fish reported the company had income of nearly $9 million, but claimed losses of almost $5 million after factoring in rent for storefronts, taxes, salaries and wages, and compensation of officers.

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