Jack’s Barbeque in Minneola has permanently closed after 68 years. The popular restaurant, also known as Jack Benny’s, closed Aug. 28. It had announced it would close on Saturday, Aug. 29, but it ran out of food a day early.
A note on the barbecue joint’s website reads: “It has been our greatest pleasure to serve you– family, friends, and the community at large– over the past 22 years. We know that in its more than 70 years of operation, Jack’s has touched the lives of countless people in South Lake County and beyond, and we will hold all the good memories close for the rest of our days. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the support that you have given us.”
(Although it notes 70 years, the restaurant first opened in 1952.)
The original owner of the restaurant was named Jack. He sold it to his niece whose husband’s name was Benny. So it became known as Jack Benny’s, sort of the same way Chris Steak House became Ruth’s Chris Steak House.
I reviewed Jack’s in my Chow Hound column in the Orlando Sentinel in November 1999.
