Beef-A-Roo leaves Sterling

STERLING – Citing consistently poor sales, the owners of seven area Beef-A-Roo restaurants closed the Sterling location Sunday.

On Monday, the sign was stripped and a moving truck was on site.

“We’re really sad,” said Melissa Seeling, one of the four owners.

She and siblings Christine Bergsten, Nick DeBruler and Roberta Esparza, all of Rockford, own and operate six Beef-A-Roos in Rockford and Loves Park.

Their parents, Sterling native and Sterling High School graduate Jean Vitale and her former husband Dave DeBruler, founded the restaurant here.

“It’s hard to supervise from 40 miles away,” Seeling said.

Beef-A-Roo had been at 2913 Lincolnway in Sterling for 15 years.

Its closure leaves 15 people without jobs.

Some employees were offered positions at a Rockford location.

“We’ve been sort of battling poor volume for quite a while,” Seeling said. “We rely on heavy traffic.”

Beefaroo Restaurants Inc., according to a Monday news release, plans to focus on building and maintaining its Rockford-area businesses.

The Sterling restaurant’s closing goes against a current trend.

“We’ve gained more restaurants than have closed [recently],” said Heather Sotelo, executive director of the Greater Sterling Development Corp.

“Anytime we lose any sort of business, we take it seriously.”