Golden Corral nearing opening; soft open scheduled for Monday or Tuesday

If the final few inspections go as planned, Golden Corral is set to open Monday. The restaurant is scheduled to have a “soft opening.”

“We almost have a restaurant going here,” Chad Kight, the restaurant’s general manager, said Friday.

Between now and then, Kight said the staff is focused on finishing some last-minute training.

“It’s not just a matter of inspections,” he said. “We also want to make sure we’re ready to go when we do open.”

Since announcing the restaurant’s plan last summer, Kight said the company has hired about 160 people to staff the new location.

The opening is contingent upon finishing the inspections, he said.

“If we don’t get them done in time for Monday, it’ll be [open] Tuesday,” he said. “It’ll be early next week.”

The restaurant, located at 130 Vantage Drive in Cape Girardeau in the building that was Ryan’s, was bustling inside and out Friday afternoon as crews and employees worked to ready the site.

“We’re going to be busy,” Kight said as employees polished counters in the lobby. “Busy, busy.”

The business’ arrival was announced in the summer after the company that owned Ryan’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Kight said he and other managers began training in August.

“We cut our own steaks, bake our own bread, all of that kind of thing,” he said, adding heavy renovations had to be undertaken before the Golden Corral could be up and running.

“Part of the reason it has taken so long to happen is just the process of converting a building that used to be a Ryan’s to a Golden Corral,” he said. “Architects, engineers, the plans have to go through so many people.”

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627