The restaurant at 445 East Chicago has been open since November 2013, but a mysterious note recently left on the door of the Dickey's Barbeque Pit in Coldwater leaves residents wondering whether the location's closure will be permanent or not. Coldwater residents say the note suddenly appeared on Tuesday and simply reads, "Closed due to non-payment of workers." However, it's unknown who actually placed the sign on the door or whether or not the accusation is true.

As recently as 2019 the Coldwater Dickey's location was ranked 5th in the nation and the former owner Matt Stritzinger credited most of the increased sales to his general manager at the time, Steve Smith. However, the franchise traded hands recently and the locals seem to think new owners RJQ Holdings of California are to blame.

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Here's what some resdients are sharing on social media:

Chris Sauceda,

They used to be a good place until they switched owners.

Brandon Acorn,

When it was locally owned the service was great, the staff was friendly, and place was always clean and the food was great. Not sure how new owners can screw up such a winning program so quickly.

Coldwater residents were also quick to blame the Covid-19 pandemic and worsening supply chain issues, but former general manager Steve Smith say he doesn't believe that's the case adding on social media, "Covid had nothing to do with the closure. 2021 we only were 10% under from previous year."

Though the sign on the door stated it was closed, the official Facebook page of Dickey's Barbeque Pit in Coldwater is still posting daily. As of this writing, the phone number listed for this Dickey's location is unavailable and their voice mailbox is full.

Do you think Dickey's in Coldwater will ever re-open?

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