The franchise was born on July 3, 1951, when the original eatery opened on Revere Beach, he said. After opening four suburban locations, the company brought its surf and turf menu to Boston in May 2010 when it opened a 5,000 square-foot, 132-seat restaurant in a former liquor store space in Allston.
For the first time in Kelly's 60-year history, the company will lay off workers, who were given prior notice of the closure, Murphy said.
"It's a terrible time to lose a job," he said. "Unfortunately there will have to be some layoffs. We've never done that before."
While all of the employees who had transferred from another Kelly's restaurant to work at the Allston location will be able to continue working with the franchise at another of its five spots, around 20 of the 35 workers at the Allston eatery will be laid off, according to the operations director.
No business has been lined up to take over the space, but Murphy said the company is open to all options. Kelly's has eight years remaining on a 10-year deal the company signed to lease the space from the property's Allston-based owner, The Hamilton Company.
The restaurant's closure will bring a second large street corner business vacancy to the Allston intersection. A 5,600 square-foot commercial space across Commonwealth Avenue from Kelly's has been empty since spring 2010 when Uno Chicago Grill closed its restaurant there. TD Bank signed a 15-year lease for the space in February, according to state land records, and plans to open a branch there in the second half of 2012, according to a spokesman for the bank.
With no parking lot of its own, few available spots nearby and no drive-thru, Kelly's business concept struggled to bring in enough revenue to stay in operation, according to Murphy.
