‘America’s Next Great Restaurant’ Closed After Two Months

Two weeks ago, Soul Daddy — the business founded by “America’s Next Great Restaurant” winner Jamawn Woods — closed its outposts in New York and Los Angeles to focus on “building the brand and developing operations” at its remaining location at the Mall of America in Minnesota. That plan worked out awesome, as the Minnesota restaurant shut down this week after less than two months of operation.

But hey, Woods is a skilled soul food cook and a young entrepreneur. His career is still promising, right?

Woods is still technically an employee at the Chrysler automobile assembly plant in Michigan — where he worked as a fork lift operator before trying out for the NBC reality show.

When Woods made the finals, Chrysler presented him with an award for his accomplishment — and granted him a one-year leave of absence to pursue his dream… A rep for Chrysler says the company intends to hold up their side of the bargain if Woods wants to come back to work, adding, “He is still a part of our family.” [TMZ]

Ouch. “Now that your dream of running restaurants is smashed to pieces by your spectacular failure, you’re welcome to come back to Detroit and operate this fork lift. We’ve also purchased you a bottle of Thunderbird to get you started on your alcoholic depression.”