DOWAGIAC — A downtown Dowagiac restaurant announced its closing Monday after more than 30 years in operation.

On Tuesday, management at Zeke’s Restaurant, 109 S. Front St., Dowagiac, announced the restaurant would be closed indefinitely in a Facebook post.

“There’s is no easy way to say this, but it is with a heavy heart and deepest regret we must inform everyone that Zeke’s is closed indefinitely,” the post said. “This decision was not made lightly, but unfortunately had to be made swiftly and with no other recourse. Thank you to all the current and previous staff. Many of you were like family. Thank you to all of our loyal customers for your patronage over the last 30 years. Many of you were also like family. Thank you to the town of Dowagiac for all of your support and for giving Zeke’s a place to call home!”

The owner, Ray Piecyk, said he was closing the restaurant because of his retirement.

“Thirty years, that’s something,” he said.

Mai Vera Brooks II, who started working at Zeke’s in December 2017 as a cook and cleaner, said the staff was a family.

“We argued like family. We got together like we were family,” she said. “I loved my people. It made my day go by fast with the people that had worked there.”

Despite her love of the restaurant, Brooks, who was born and raised in Dowagiac, wished the notification of her employment would have been done differently.

She was at a cardio drumming class Monday night when she received a text from a fellow Zeke’s employee.  Her coworker told Brooks they would have to find other employment because Zeke’s would not be open on Tuesday. Brooks said she did not receive a call directly from the owner, nor was any employee told the reason.

Brooks said she wished employees could have been notified of the closing after their Sunday shifts.

“I wouldn’t have been so hurt and devastated,” Brooks said. “It was a job that I loved to do.”

The restaurant employed an estimated 20 to 25 people.

Melissa Jo Smith, who worked at Zeke’s for more than two years as part of the wait staff, called the situation an “emotional rollercoaster.”

“All of us girls became so close,” she said. “We babysat each other’s kids. We took each other to the grocery store. We spent so much time with each other at work and outside of work.”

Smith echoed Brooks sentiments of having a great time working at Zeke’s, but said she was sad with how it all ended.

“[There was] no warning, no rumors and no staff meeting,” she said. “Just ‘bam,’ no more Zeke’s.”

Smith found out she was unemployed through a group chat message via Facebook.

The restaurant is listed on two online auction sites, loopnet.com and LASTBIDrealeastate.com. Both sites list the starting price as $50,000 for the 8,558-square foot, two-story building that was built in 1900.

Another Facebook post said gift cards could be used at Big T Restaurant in Lawton, also owned by Piecyk, who said that restaurant will remain open.