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SANDY — The Mayan Adventure and Spaghetti Mamas restaurants at Jordan Commons abruptly closed Monday, leaving more than 150 people out of work.
Employees at the Mayan began hearing rumors about a closure Sunday night, and official notices to managers started going out the following morning.
Performer Traci Lujan said she and other performers in the Mayan's unique entertainment staff came to the restaurant Monday to start picking up their equipment. The employees estimated the Mayan employed about 120.
It has been like family. I met my husband here. He's also a performer.
–Mayan entertainment manager Mary Wolfe
"It's the funnest job I've ever had," said Hope McCurdy, an aerialist. "I don't know where we'll go next. There really isn't anything else like it around here."
McCurdy had only been at the Mayan about four months, but some had been there much longer. "It has been like family," said entertainment manager Mary Wolfe. "I met my husband here. He's also a performer."
Both restaurants were leased by the Larry H. Miller Group to SLC3, whose operations director, John Davie, said he hoped they could do business together again in the future. "Working closely with the Miller Group and the Miller family has indeed been a privilege and a blessing in my life. They have all gone out of their way to help us try and make our ventures successful," he said in a statement.
Jay Francis, executive vice president of the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, said his organization always struggled to make the Mayan a success, leasing the massive 700-seat theme restaurant to SLC3 three years ago.
Francis said the Mayan space will be reconfigured, probably adding two additional movie theaters to the Megaplex 17, as well as adding some banquet and meeting space. The Spaghetti Mama's space is being shopped around to other restaurant operators, and it is the Miller Group's intention that it will continue to be restaurant space.
Francis said he did not know all of the reasons SLC3 was throwing in the towel, but knew the economy was a significant factor, aggravated by the Mayan's unusual size. "A 700-plus seat restaurant — it's tough to make it work," he said. "It's a big monster to manage."
Francis said Greg Miller, CEO of the Miller Group, was meeting with employees from both restaurants Tuesday afternoon, and offering all of them jobs within the company's theater operations. Several of the Mayan performers said they had heard of the offer, and that they appreciated the treatment they were getting from the Miller Group, though some speculated the pay would be much less than what they were getting as performers.
Francis said the reconfigured space inside the Mayan shell would probably take space in about a year, and that a new restaurant could be operating in the Spaghetti Mamas space in three months.
Email:sfidel@ksl.com