The International House of Pancakes restaurant in Statesboro closed its doors Dec. 31, taping two pieces of paper to the windows of the front entrance reading: “IHOP Closed for business at this time.”

While no official announcement has been made, and attempts to reach the corporate offices or local management have been unsuccessful, the International House of Pancakes website lists the Statesboro location on Highway 80 East as “Temporarily Closed.”

A former Statesboro IHOP employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said workers were told New Year’s Eve would be their last day and they were offered similar jobs at IHOP restaurants in Pooler or Savannah, if they were willing to drive.

The employee said they were not given a specific reason for the closing.

In late October, Dine Brands, the parent company of IHOP and Applebee's, announced that it was planning to close "just under 100 of our underperforming restaurants" in the next six months. “Given the impact of the pandemic on individual restaurant-level economics, the company is evaluating the viability of greatly underperforming domestic IHOP restaurants.”

"We're confident we will eventually replace these severely under-performing restaurants with better-performing restaurants," IHOP president Jay Johns said in October.

The restaurant industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic as many people have shifted to eating at home to prevent the spread of the virus. Takeout and delivery options have increased for some restaurant businesses in the wake of the pandemic, but many have found themselves closing locations or filing for bankruptcy.

Like all restaurants in Georgia and most around the nation, the Statesboro IHOP closed its dining room in late March in accordance with Gov. Brian Kemp’s lockdown order. The restaurant dining room re-opened in May.