A 3rd Fosters Freeze closes in Fresno/Clovis, blaming minimum wage, inflation, lease

Yet another Fosters Freeze restaurant in the Fresno area has closed.

The restaurant on the edge of Old Town Clovis at Clovis Avenue and Ninth Street closed Monday.

The restaurant has been operating on the spot since the building was constructed for it several decades ago.

It follows the shutdown of two others in Fresno: One on Blackstone Avenue and another at Palm and Bullard avenues. A Lemoore location also closed earlier this year.

Franchisee/owner Hafed Alwajih said a combination of factors led to the closure: the fast food minimum wage rising to $20 an hour, inflation driving up costs and the lease on the building expiring.

“That place has been there since 1970s,” he said. “I feel bad. It has a lot of loyal customers. It’s Old Town Clovis.”

He said his expenses have gone up 30% the past two years.

On April 1, a California law went into effect raising fast food workers minimum wage from $16 to $20.

The location has between eight and 10 employees at any one time. Related expenses also rise when worker pay goes up, he said.

“When the minimum wage goes up, of course the insurance will go up. Of course the payroll tax will go up,” he said. “It’s everything.”

Inflation has also had a dramatic effect. The cost of ingredients have gone up and customers are eating out less because rising prices in general are straining their budgets.

So when the lease came up for renewal with a standard increase in rent, Alwajih said they decided to call it quits.

“We’re not going to make it, so why (are) we going to renew?” he said

Why are Fosters Freezes closing?

The three other restaurants are closing for several reasons.

The Palm and Bullard location lease was up last summer, and the landlord opted to bring in a Starbucks . The coffee giant gutted the building and remodeled it. Construction is almost done.

In January 2023, the Fosters Freeze with the retro look on Blackstone Avenue near Barstow Avenue closed . The franchisee (who also owned the Palm location) said the rising price of food, labor and a lease up for renewal with a proposed 20% increase in rent led to the closure.

A representative of the Lemoore location told KMPH Fox 26 in April that it couldn’t survive the minimum wage increase.

When asked if an aging brand without many changes played a role in the closures, Alwajih said no.

“It’s not Fosters Freeze,” he said. “The inflation and the minimum wage is killing everyone.”

He said the other locations he owns are doing well and recently talked to another franchisee in town, who said his locations are doing fine.

Fosters Freeze still has several restaurants in town. Alwajih also owns locations near Ashlan Avenue and Highway 99, and another on Cesar Chavez Boulevard (formerly Ventura) near Cedar Avenue.

Other locations include the one at Cedar and Shields avenues in Fresno, and another at Shaw and Armstrong avenues in Clovis. There are also locations in Visalia, Reedley, Selma, Sanger, Porterville and Dinuba.

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