The Neely's Close Their Memphis Restaurants For Good

Photo - The Neely's Twitter

Pat and Gina Neely have decided to close their two Neely's Bar-B-Q restaurants in Memphis for good.  Both restaurants have been closed since October of 2012 for supposed renovations, but the Neely's posted a message today on their Facebook page stating:

Gina and I want to thank you, our followers and fans for your continuous loyalty. We want to say from the bottom of our hearts how much we appreciate you. We want to share with you that we have closed the Neelys Bar B Que restaurants in Memphis Tennessee indefinitely. We want to invite you to continue to support our New York location. Again we want to thank you for your continuous support.

In an October 2012 article in The Commercial Appeal, the Neely's stated they closed both restaurants for renovations and also stopped operating their concession stand at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, which caused them to lay off 80 employees.  They also cited a "hectic travel schedule, filming commitments and book deals" for not being able to attend to their restaurants as much as they wanted.  Maybe their BBQ wasn't good enough with all of the competition in Memphis.

Gina is currently a spokesperson for George Foreman Grills and they have both been selling products on QVC lately (pictured above).  They also still have a Neely's location in New York that will remain open.