CLAYTON, Mo. — Cantina Laredo, at 7710 Forsyth Blvd. in Clayton, permanently shuttered after its final day of operations Sunday.
The upscale Tex-Mex restaurant never saw traffic recover after the pandemic, Consolidated Restaurant Operations’ Vice President of Marketing Bill Watson said. Dallas-based CRO is a full-service restaurant company that operates and franchises seven restaurant brands across the country, including Cantina Laredo.
“There’s not the number of people (in Clayton) that there were pre-pandemic, especially during the daytime,” he said. “That is an unfortunate reality about a lot of retail businesses and restaurants that are dependent on a core, urban, downtown area.”
The number of people served at the restaurant each week in 2023 was down 40% compared with 2019, Watson said.
CRO partnered with Clayton-based managed care firm Centene Corp. (NYSE: CNC) to open the restaurant, located on the ground floor of Centene Plaza B, a 17-story, 500,000-square-foot office building in downtown Clayton.
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