Beef-a-Roo’s Rockford Comeback Faces a Major Setback

I really thought we were finally going to get some good news about Beef-a-Roo locations in the Rockford area soon. Unfortunately, this is not one of those stories.

Beefaroo Responds After Being — Google Street View

New Owners for Rockford Area Beef-a-Roos?

Back in July, we learned that two local business owners, Robert Grottke of Tom & Jerry's and Alex Edwards of Candy Cloud, were teaming up to bring Beef-a-Roo back to the Rockford area, and I was genuinely excited.

I drive by the Beef-a-Roo location on Auburn every day on my way to and from work, and every week the building looks sadder. The landscaping gets more overgrown, there are still no cars in the parking lot, it breaks my cheddar fry-loving heart.

I keep telling myself, the Beef-a-Roo closures are only temporary to make myself feel better, but then I see news like this.

Beef-a-Roo Reopening Plans Hit Major Roadblock

Please believe me when I say it pains me to tell you this, but the plans to reopen Rockford area Beef-a-Roos have hit a major roadblock. Some might even call it the end of the road.

When Robert Grottke and Alex Edwards began the process to bring Beef-a-Roo back, they had one clear goal: to keep the Beef-a-Roo locations local. Unfortunately, that is where the major problem lies.

Robert Grottke told Rockford News First:

There’s a company that’s claiming to own the IP, the intellectual property for Beef-a-Roo that is out of Canada. We didn’t want Beef-a-Roo out of Canada. We want Beef-a-Roo local.
We would now be dictated exactly what we would need to do, more of a franchising role than an owner operator role. And that’s a stopping point for us.

Basically, the Canadian company that currently owns Beef-a-Roo's intellectual property isn't willing to let the Rockford locations operate independently... which really sucks.