Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


An iconic restaurant that recently announced it would be closing after 70 years of serving the community had a line wrapped around the building and was sold out of its signature roast beef for the day as of this afternoon.

“Sign of the Beefcarver” is located at 27400 Woodward Avenue in Royal Oak. There used to be locations across Metro Detroit, but this is now the last one remaining.

It’s an old-fashioned, cafeteria-style standby with hand-carved roast beef and other comfort meals that’s known for affordability and a nostalgic atmosphere.

The restaurant recently made the following closure announcement on Facebook:

“Dear Beefcarver customers and friends,

It is with very heavy hearts that we must inform you that we will be closing the last Sign of the Beefcarver restaurant on Sunday, October 25 after 70 years of continuous family-run operation. Due to extreme financial pressure from rising food costs, not the least of which is the historically high price of roast beef, our menu namesake, we can no longer sustain the losses that have resulted.

Ever since the government-mandated shutdown from Covid, and the devastation that caused for operating a restaurant and attracting customers, Beefcarver has struggled to survive. Between the excessive food costs and the added burdens of onerous government policies, we can no longer absorb the excessive costs of operating and still offer our customers a desirable value proposition.

We sincerely THANK YOU FOR SEVENTY YEARS of loyal and faithful support for The Beefcarver! We have always tried to offer exceptional value and quality in the friendliest family atmosphere possible. We truly hope you have enjoyed many memories and joyful meals with family and friends.

We have sincerely enjoyed serving you!

EDIT: Facebook is a really bad platform for replying to all these comments, but I am doing my best. We sincerely appreciate the outpouring of love. I am blocking and deleting vulgar and nasty comments, and trying my best to reply to all the lovely comments.

To answer some common questions:

- Beef cattle take years to grow to market size, and so it takes many years for prices to recover from large culling events.

- If we raised our prices to the point that covered our all-time high costs, they would be prohibitively expensive for a lot of people, and we would not be providing the excellent food for the value we have always strived for.

- We are well aware that our business model is old-fashioned. It was old-fashioned when it opened in the 50s.

- This was not a decision made lightly, and is the result of a wide variety of reasons, influences, and pressures. If you think you can pin it down to a single thing, you are mistaken.

- Our staff is the main reason we stayed open this long, and leaving them a tip, offering a job, or any other forms of support would be the best thing you can do for them. Any business would be lucky to have one of our employees, and I highly encourage any business owners to reach out to them directly.

- The plan is to be all done on Sunday, October 25th, but I would advise coming in as soon as you can. When we run out of food, we will be done for the day.

- I may keep posting after we close, and there may be news of selling fixtures, tables, chairs, appliances, and decor. If we do more merch, I will definitely let everyone know.

Thank you again for all the love. This is a tough thing for everyone involved”.


The business had a line wrapped around the building all day today.

It said “Thank you all for the support. We have reached out to our suppliers and will be getting daily deliveries. We will cook as much roast beef and entrees as our ovens can handle, and be ready to see you later this week!”

Photos: Google Street View & Facebook