CEDAR RAPIDS — Betas restaurant in Cedar Rapids’s New Bohemia district has closed as its owner plans to open a new restaurant in Marion.
“It is with the utmost appreciation for what our guests have done for us since we opened in 2012 that I must inform you that Betas service in Cedar Rapids and the NewBo District is over,” owner Joel Kane wrote in a note posted on Facebook Friday. “ ... Betas could not have been the success that it was without the support of everyone that entered our doors, but all good things must come to an end.”
Kane confirmed the closure to The Gazette on Friday.
Betas, 1006 Third St. SE, opened in 2012 as Bata’s. Kane said he started working there in 2013 and bought it in 2016. He said he is working to open a new restaurant in the Uptown Marion district by early summer 2018.
“I’m from Marion, so going home to be a part of the development there is big for me,” Kane said.
At 26, Kane said it would have been difficult to operate two restaurants by himself.
Called Lost and Found, the new restaurant will be located next to Uptown Snug, 760 11th St., Kane said. It will focus on “high-end cocktails and high-quality, comfort Iowa food,” he said.
A new tenant will replace Betas in NewBo, but Kane said he could not comment on the new business.
“I feel like we’ve done a lot of good things for NewBo and it’s not like I’m leaving a building empty,” he said. “There’s somebody coming in here who is going to be doing really good things for the area as well.”
UPDATE: On Tuesday, Jan. 2, Kane said gift cards purchased for use at Betas would be accepted at his new Marion restaurant.
l Comments: (319) 398-8366; matthew.patane@thegazette.com