Paula Deen announced Friday the closure of the Savannah restaurant that launched her to fame with its menu of fried chicken, banana pudding and other Southern dishes.

Deen ran The Lady & Sons restaurant with her two sons, Jamie and Bobby Deen, for nearly three decades. Fans visiting Savannah continued to line up for Deen’s buffet long after the Food Network canceled her show, “Paula’s Home Cooking,” in 2013.

Deen, 78, said Friday that The Lady & Sons closed for good along with her second Savannah eatery, The Chicken Box. A statement posted on Deen’s website and social media accounts offer a reason for the sudden closure of the restaurants.

“Hey, y’all, my sons and I made the heartfelt decision that Thursday, July 31st, was the last day of service for The Lady & Sons and The Chicken Box,” Deen’s statement said.

“Thank you for all the great memories and for your loyalty over the past 36 years,” she said. “We have endless love and gratitude for every customer who has walked through our doors.”

Deen indicated her four restaurants outside Savannah – Nashville and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Branson, Missouri – would remain open.

Deen was divorced and nearly broke when she moved to Savannah with her sons in 1989 and started a catering business called The Bag Lady. She opened her first restaurant a few years later at a local Best Western hotel, then started The Lady & Sons in downtown Savannah in 1996.

The restaurant soon had lines out the door and served roughly 1,100 diners per day at the height of Deen’s popularity. A USA Today food critic awarded The Lady & Sons his “meal of the year” in 1999.

Deen moved her Savannah restaurant to a larger building nearby the year after The Food Network debuted “Paula’s Home Cooking” in 2002. Filmed mostly in her home kitchen, Deen taped more than 200 episodes over the next decade.