What Happened to Lefty’s Famous Cheesesteak in Kalamazoo?

I love a good cheesesteak, and I love restaurants that have their own spin on the traditional style.. .especially when they add flamin' hot cheetos to them. So one spot I tended to frequent on Stadium Drive was Lefty's Famous Cheesesteaks, who also put together some killer loaded fries, too.

But seemingly out of nowhere, Lefty's closed very unceremoniously. Imagine my disappoint when I rolled up to the drive, and was greeted with that classic Red and Black building, but void of any signage. What the heck happened to Lefty's?

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The Detroit-based brand wasn't a franchise restaurant for a long time. It was started by Sam Berry in 2012 in Livonia, and even as late as 2020, there were still only 11 restaurants in the greater Detroit area.

It's also worth noting that when he started the business, he was a recent cancer survivor, and because of this, placed all interests in his mother's name, Nayfe Berry.

In 2020, The idea of franchising the restaurant came up, and he met with Allie Mallad, who was his mother's cousin. After multiple meetings, they agreed on a deal, and began franchising the restaurant.

By 2022, there were 52 locations located in Michigan, California, Ohio, Florida, and Texas, and within their agreement, Mallad was allowed to open up to 20 new restaurants without being subject to any fees or royalties. But Berry claims Mallad didn't lead any efforts to starting those new restaurants, and a battle lawsuits soon began.

The Closures Begin

Through this in-fighting, many of the Lefty's locations that had been opened, began to close just as fast. Mallad had personally invested in 18 new stores, and had already closed 11 by the end of 2023.

In 2024, he closed three more that included Jackson, Battle Creek, and Kalamazoo. Mallad claims the closures were due to product quality issues with suppliers, but it can't be overlooked that he is still locked in a lawsuit battle with Berry, who claims an alleged "pattern of dishonesty and bad faith."

Both sides of the "family" allege wrongdoings by the other, most notably Mallad, who says the Berrys were trying to squeeze him out of being a minority owner of the brand.

The sad part is, while this family feud over the ownership of a cheesesteak chain is ongoing, the real people suffering are those who actually enjoyed the food, who no longer have it as an option.

Maybe things get resolved, maybe they don't... but they're not my family, and I'm now stuck adding my OWN flaming hot cheetos to a cheesesteak from some other establishment.