Here’s the lowdown, if you’re interested to know why Cock of the Walk in North Little Rock is up for sale for $2.295 million.
Bryan Burkhalter, who opened the franchised restaurant in 1984, said he’s in his 50s and is ready to retire after nearly three decades of operating the Southern food eatery.
The restaurant is 8,500 SF and sits on 11.68 acres.
Burkhalter is offering the more than 300-seat building and the acreage, with a pond and parking lot, for sale together.
However, he is willing to sell the land separately from the building, he said.
The restaurant employs about 35 people, most of them part-timers.
Burkhalter originally opened the restaurant as part of a small investor group, none of whose partners had prior restaurant experience.
North Little Rock’s Cock of the Walk has been successful, winning awards and getting visits from Arkansas’ famous, including former President Bill Clinton, actor Billy Bob Thornton and basketball player Scottie Pippen, Burkhalter said.
The restaurant had food sales of $666,533 in 2011.
“We learned as we went,” Burkhalter said. “Loved the business, loved the clientele, [but] it’s grueling.”
The Cock of the Walk franchisor is headquartered in Pensacola, Fla. Burkhalter’s restaurant is the only full-service version of Cock of the Walk in Arkansas. There are express locations in Benton and Bryant.
Reed Gibbons with real estate company Rector Phillips Morse of Little Rock is the real estate agent marketing the restaurant and land.
