Crowds are wrapping around the building on Woodward Avenue — but the third-generation owners say the surge came too late to save a Metro Detroit institution.
The lines snaking around Sign of the Beefcarver on Woodward Avenue this week look like something out of 2019 — packed, emotional, nostalgic. Customers drove in from across Metro Detroit on Tuesday, many with tears in their eyes, all of them ordering one last meal before Sunday's final service.
After 70 years in business, Royal Oak's last remaining Beefcarver location is closing its doors for good. Third-generation owner Joseph Joliat says rising beef costs, surging taxes, insurance, and payroll made it impossible to keep going — and the crowds that could have helped simply stopped showing up after 2020.
- 70 — Years in Business
- 29 — Years — LeVoy Garner
- Sunday — Final Day
How Well Do You Know the Beefcarver Story?
Five questions about a Metro Detroit farewell — the answers might surprise you.
Joseph Joliat is what generation of owner at Sign of the Beefcarver?
- First generation — The Joliat family goes further back than that. Joseph is the third generation — his father Jay Joliat is the current CEO, and the family's roots at Beefcarver stretch back decades.
- Second generation — Close, but not quite. Joseph's father Jay is still active as CEO. Joseph is the third generation of Joliats to run this Woodward Avenue landmark.
- Third generation — Correct. Joseph Joliat is the third-generation owner — a fact that makes this closure all the more significant. His father Jay Joliat, the CEO, called the outpouring this week 'spectacular.'
- Fourth generation — Not quite — Joseph is the third generation. The Joliat family has stewarded this Royal Oak institution across three generations of ownership.
LeVoy Garner has worked at Sign of the Beefcarver for how many years?
- 12 years — Much longer than that. Garner has been serving customers at Beefcarver for 29 years — through multiple decades of Metro Detroit history, outlasting many of the restaurant's own milestones.
- 20 years — Close in spirit, but the real number is even more remarkable. Garner has worked at Beefcarver for 29 years, and this week he remains focused on making sure every customer has a good time in the final days.
- 29 years — Correct. Twenty-nine years — and in the restaurant's emotional final week, Garner says it's still all about his customers having a good time and enjoying themselves.
- 35 years — Not quite 35, but still remarkable. Garner has given 29 years to this Woodward Avenue institution — nearly half the restaurant's entire 70-year run.
According to owner Joseph Joliat, when did the restaurant's crowd levels last resemble this week's lines?
- Before 2015 — The shift happened more recently. Joliat said Beefcarver hasn't seen crowds like this week's since before 2020 — a pivot point that coincides with the broader disruptions that reshaped the restaurant industry.
- Before 2020 — Correct. Joliat said the restaurant hasn't had the same kind of crowds it had before 2020. That gap in customer traffic, combined with rising costs, is what ultimately forced the closure.
- Before 2022 — The owners trace the problem further back. Joliat noted that the crowds dried up before 2020 — and Jay Joliat said he wished loyal customers had started returning four or five years ago.
- Before 2018 — Joliat specifically cited the period before 2020 as the last time the restaurant saw comparable crowds. The years since then brought rising costs and declining foot traffic that the business couldn't absorb.
Joseph Joliat cited several rising costs that contributed to the closure. Which of these did he specifically name?
- Beef prices, rent, and staffing — Rent wasn't among the costs Joliat named. He specifically called out beef prices at an all-time high, along with rising taxes, insurance, and payroll as the financial pressures that made operating unsustainable.
- Beef prices, taxes, insurance, and payroll — Correct — all four. Joliat said the cost of beef is at an all-time high and that taxes, insurance, and payroll kept going up while the crowds that could support those costs never returned.
- Supply chain, utilities, and marketing — Those weren't the costs Joliat cited. He named four specific pressure points: beef prices at an all-time high, rising taxes, rising insurance, and rising payroll — a combination the restaurant's reduced traffic couldn't sustain.
- Beef prices and utilities only — Joliat named more than just beef and utilities. The full list he gave included beef prices, taxes, insurance, and payroll — all rising simultaneously while customer foot traffic stayed low.
How long has Sign of the Beefcarver been in business — the number customers cited as 'not long enough'?
- 50 years — Beefcarver's run is even longer. Customer Tammy Liss said '70 years isn't long enough' — the restaurant has been a Metro Detroit fixture since its founding, spanning generations of families on Woodward Avenue.
- 60 years — The number is higher. Tammy Liss put it simply: 'Seventy years isn't long enough.' Sign of the Beefcarver has been part of Metro Detroit's dining landscape for roughly 70 years.
- 70 years — Correct. Roughly 70 years — and customer Tammy Liss captured the feeling of the week when she said, 'We need it to stay running. Seventy years isn't long enough.'
- 80 years — The restaurant has been in business for roughly 70 years. Customer Tammy Liss's reaction said it all: 'Seventy years isn't long enough.'
That line you see stretching around the building? It tells the whole story — and the heartbreak — in one image. Customers came from across Metro Detroit on Tuesday, many saying the restaurant is woven into their earliest memories: family birthdays, post-game dinners, Sunday traditions. Joe Munem said it feels like a piece of his childhood is leaving this week. Donna Pinazzo said she cried when she heard the news — and expected to cry again.
Customer Evan Peller voiced what many in line were quietly hoping: that the sheer size of Tuesday's crowd might somehow reverse the decision. But third-generation owner Joseph Joliat was direct — the wave of support arrived years too late. The restaurant needed this kind of response for the past couple of years, he said. It just didn't come.
- 70 — Years in Business — Royal Oak's Woodward Ave. institution
- 29 — Years — LeVoy Garner — Serving customers through it all
- 2020 — Last Big Crowds — Before foot traffic declined
- Sunday — Final Day of Service — The last meal ever served
The Woodward Avenue location is the last remaining restaurant in what was once a local chain — meaning Sunday doesn't just mark the end of a single location. It marks the end of the Sign of the Beefcarver name entirely in Metro Detroit.
Jay Joliat, the company's CEO and Joseph's father, described the final week's outpouring as 'spectacular' — while expressing the kind of wish no owner wants to voice. He said he wished that all the people who love Beefcarver would have started coming back four or five years ago. By then, it was already too late to change the math.
LeVoy Garner has been behind the counter for 29 of the restaurant's 70 years — nearly half its entire existence. When he sees the lines this week, he calls it a wonderful thing. But he isn't dwelling on the emotion of it. Right now, he said, it's all about his customers having a good time and enjoying themselves. That's the Beefcarver ethos, distilled into one sentence by the man who has lived it longest.
Owners say they are still determining what happens to the building on Woodward Avenue after Sunday. That chapter remains unwritten. What is certain: the name Sign of the Beefcarver, and everything it meant to generations of Metro Detroit families, closes with the kitchen on Sunday night.
The Business Behind the Nostalgia
- 70 — Years in Operation
- 29 — Years — LeVoy Garner
- 1 — Location Remaining
- 0 — Locations After Sunday
The Bigger Picture: What's Happening to Metro Detroit's Legacy Restaurants
Sign of the Beefcarver's closing is not happening in isolation. The same financial pressures Joseph Joliat described — beef and food costs at all-time highs, rising insurance, rising payroll — are squeezing independent restaurants across Metro Detroit and the country.
Michigan's unemployment rate sits at 5.0% as of September 2026, slightly above the national rate of 4.2%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consumer prices overall have climbed significantly in recent years, with the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers now at 336.9, reflecting the broad inflationary environment that has made operating costs harder to absorb for small, independent businesses.
Legacy restaurants that built their identity before the digital era often struggle to adapt — without the marketing infrastructure, delivery platforms, or loyalty apps that newer competitors use to maintain foot traffic. Beefcarver's story of a slow post-2020 decline is one dozens of Metro Detroit family-owned dining institutions share quietly, without the farewell lines.
Want to Say Goodbye in Person?
- Woodward Avenue, Royal Oak: Sign of the Beefcarver's final location — the last in a once-larger Metro Detroit chain.
- Final Day: This Sunday: The restaurant will serve its last meal on Sunday. Owners have not announced future plans for the building.
- Arrive Early: Lines began forming early Tuesday morning and remained steady throughout the day. Expect crowds through the final service.
Seventy years isn't long enough — that's how customer Tammy Liss put it, and it may be the most honest summary of this week. Beefcarver outlasted trends, outlasted competitors, outlasted the careers of people who never worked anywhere else. LeVoy Garner gave it 29 years of his life and is still, in its final days, showing up to make sure every customer leaves happy.
Sign of the Beefcarver mattered to Royal Oak and Metro Detroit because it was never just about the food. It was the place where generations of families kept showing up — until, for a few years too many, they stopped. On Sunday, Woodward Avenue loses something that cannot be rebuilt from scratch.
