Oklahoma State Parks visitors will be able to chow down on site again. Lookout Kitchen restaurants at five parks are reopening after being closed for nearly a week over unpaid royalty and utility payments.
The Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department says it put Lookout Kitchen on notice back in May, providing a July 7 deadline for the business to pay outstanding debts to the state.
It didn't, according to the Tourism Department. So the state suspended the operation of Lookout's restaurants last week, affecting five heavily trafficked state parks — Roman Nose, Robbers Cave, Lake Murray, Beavers Bend and Quartz Mountain.
Now, those restaurants are reopening after the state and Lookout agreed on a payment plan. Lookout has paid its first installment toward nearly $300,000 it owes the state.
Lake Murray's restaurant will open at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday and the other locations will open at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday.
A sixth location at Sequoyah State Park has been closed since a kitchen fire in December and doesn't have a planned date to reopen.
Lookout took over the operation of state parks restaurants after the previous operator, Swadley's Foggy Bottom Kitchen, allegedly swindled millions of taxpayer dollars.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
