‘Not going anywhere,’ this 33-year-old Boise restaurant is just closing its doors for a bit
A 33-year staple of Boise closed its doors on Saturday and was not opening them back up on Sunday.
But don’t worry, Lucky 13 fans, it’s not permanent. The pizza, salad and sandwich bar, located at 3662 S. Eckert Road and a Boise mainstay since 1989, is just going on a sabbatical and plans to return around September.
Lucky 13’s original home was in the North End until 2007, before the restaurant moved to its current location at Harris Ranch in East Boise.
“This is the first time I’ve ever taken a sabbatical in 33 years,” Lucky 13 owner Liza Goul told the Idaho Statesman on Friday. “So it’s kind of weird.”
Goul told the Statesman that half of her summer staff is leaving the restaurant to return to school in a couple of weeks, while several remaining staff members have vacations planned throughout August.
It’s been challenging to find new hires, she said, and therefore after consultation with her staff, she decided to close the restaurant for about a month or so.
“Everybody can get back into school, get their school scheduled. And then in the meantime, we’ll just hire like crazy and get some people trained,” Goul said. “Because we have the core base, we just don’t have enough people to maintain the customer service quality.”
Between not wanting to tell people they can’t take vacations and wanting to maintain a high level of customer service, Goul figured closing for a while would be the best course of action.
Goul doesn’t have a specific date yet for when the restaurant will reopen — she said she’ll decide that with her staff in due course. Nothing about Lucky 13 will be different when the doors reopen, either: it’ll be the same high-quality pizza, salad, sandwiches and customer service, Goul said.
Even though it’s the first time in 33 years that Goul willingly closed Lucky 13’s doors to the public, it’s not the first time it’s happened. Like many businesses, the restaurant had to shut down during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s a better feeling than COVID because COVID you just weren’t sure, but it’s not like I’m unsure or worried about anything (this time),” Goul said. “I’m just taking a holiday as most people do.”
Anyone who wants to apply to work at Lucky 13 can email a resume to Lucky13@gmail.com.
Lucky 13’s temporary closure was first reported by BoiseDev.
This story was originally published July 22, 2022 at 3:58 PM.
