A popular Tuscaloosa restaurant has closed its doors for good, leaving both patrons and employees in shock. Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, located off Skyland Boulevard, ceased operations unexpectedly Monday, September 26, 2016.

The restaurant removed signage from the front of the building, and covered its lighted signs in the parking lot. The following notice was taped to the front doors of the restaurant.

Meg Summers/TSM
Meg Summers/TSM
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Several employees of Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen say they were not given advance notice of the closing. The company did the same thing to employees at its Mobile location last year.

Cheddar's doors were locked; however, fish in Cheddar's famous fish tank were still visible. One can only hope the company plans to find a home for the fish. I'm seriously stressing about it.

Cheddar's also closed restaurants in Hattiesburg and Shreveport today; both of those restaurants posted a similar notice on their front doors.

Fans of Cheddar's reacted to the restaurant's closing on Twitter.

UPDATE (Tuesday, September 27, 2016): U-Hauls were on site at Cheddar's this morning to load up furniture and other equipment from the restaurant. We reached out to their corporate office for a reason as to why the restaurant had shut down so abruptly and received the following response:

“After three years in this location, we have made the difficult decision to close our Skyland Blvd. location due to decreased business. We appreciate Tuscaloosa’s support through the years and as a token of gratitude, we are offering severance packages to our team members based on tenure.” David Reckner, Regional Vice President at Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen

The crews on site loading U-Hauls said that the fish had been "handled," and I'm hoping that means that these fish have found a safe and permanent home.

Simone Eli/TSM
Simone Eli/TSM
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Simone Eli/TSM
Simone Eli/TSM
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