Monday morning, employees of Shoney’s stood outside of the restaurant looking confused.

Hours earlier-without any advanced warning they said- they had been told that the business is closed and they are no longer employed.

“I don’t know what happened,” said one employee who declined to give her name.

Darrie Pettway, who worked at the restaurant for two years as a dishwasher, said that he received a call from a co-worker that morning at 5 a.m.

“She said that I did not have to worry about coming to work,” Pettway said. “Oh man! When I got that call this morning, I was stunned. I said, not again! (First) Burger King, now Shoney’s.

I used to work at Burger King when they closed down like that.”

Attempts to contact the Shoney’s owner Dr. Curtis Baker in Clanton were unsuccessful.

A spokesman for Shoney’s corporate office confirmed the closing but could not comment further.

“It was actually a franchise restaurant,” Ronald Roberts said.

Selma’s mayor James Perkins Jr. was caught off guard, like the Shoney’s employees.

“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” he said at Monday’s City Council meeting. “I’m surprised.”

The mayor pointed out that Burger King on Highland Avenue is reopening.

That’s a path that Pettway says he hopes Shoney’s can follow.

“I hope that they may open back up in the future,” he said.

– and

contributed to this report.