By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer
CHELSEA – As visitors turned into Valley Post on Monday, April 27, they were met by a security guard who turned them away, telling them that the complex’s services had ceased.
The abrupt closure came in the middle of weeks of financial tension for the Pihakis Restaurant Group, who operated Valley Post—a business and entertainment district that opened up in the city of Chelsea in December 2025.
The four Pihakis restaurants within Valley Post, including Rodney Scott’s BBQ, Hero Diner, Little Donkey and Luca & Lucy, were all included in the facility’s complete shut down.
A security guard was seen roaming the complex on Monday, telling any potential customers that restaurants had shut down, and workers were seen already moving supplies out of the businesses ready to be shipped to other branches.
The closure comes after Michael Mouron of Capital Real Estate Investments, who owns the properties where PRG has restaurants, filed multiple liens claiming the restaurant has not paid rent on its properties.
That led to the closure of several Pihakis-owned restaurants over the past two weeks across the Birmingham-metro area.
It was unclear the impact this would have on the Valley-Post restaurants, but a lawsuit from Birmingham meat supplier Evans Meats Inc. on Monday named 20 PRG affiliates, including the four Valley-Post operations.
The lawsuit from the plaintiff state that the defendants failed to pay the supplier in accordance with the terms of their contract, which is a breach of the contract itself. From the date of Thursday, April 23, the defendants own the plaintiff a total of $394,238.73, on top of interest and costs of collection.
