Why Freebirds Left San Angelo

SAN ANGELO, TX -- San Angelo's only Freebirds World Burrito location closed abruptly yesterday because the rent was raised too high.  

Freebirds General Manager Kit Chambers told LIVE! Monday that the reason for closing was simple, "We closed because Dub Johnson doubled our rent."

Chambers was General Manager at Freebirds for the last two years and assistant manager for two years before that.  "The high rent meant we couldn't make a profit."  

Chambers says Freebirds has no plans to reopen in San Angelo at this time.  

Dub Z. Johnson Real Estate Services has the location listed on it's website.  The building is listed for $29.00 per square foot per year for a total annual rent of $73,950.00. 

Dub Johnson is a property management firm and does not own the shopping center. Property management firms don't generally set the price of the lease, the landlord does.

Freebirds World Burrito, through their spokeswoman, released a statement late Tuesday. “Freebirds World Burrito can confirm that we recently closed our San Angelo location. It’s never an easy decision for us to close one of our restaurants, we apologize for the inconvenience and encourage guests to visit our other locations," stated Sarah Spitzer. “The lease came up for renewal. We tried to work out an arrangement with the landlord so we could stay and continue to do business in San Angelo, but we were unable to, so we were forced to close."
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Updated to explain the relationship between a property management company and a landlord, and added the official statement from Freebirds,