NYC Wahlburger Locations Are Flatlining

Looks like the Coney Island location isn’t the only Wahlburgers that’s in trouble: After closing the franchise last month, it looks like the chain from the acting-reality star Wahlberg brothers is sputtering, Page Six reports.

The Brooklyn location for the notoriously mediocre burger chain hadn’t been paying the rent, and they “were on the verge of being locked out” of the Coney Island location, according to Page Six. The company says the location will reopen.

The Times Square location is also slow going, having signed a lease on 725 Eighth Avenue in 2015 that has yet to open, with sources saying that the franchises are allegedly behind on rent.

Owned by actor and underpants model Mark Wahlberg, along with his brothers Donnie and Paul, Wahlburgers only has one location currently opened in the city, at 1633 Second Avenue on the Upper East Side. The other New York location resides in Port Jefferson Station, which a Newsday critic says “succeeds more as a shrine” to the Wahlbergs than as a restaurant. Food showed up cold and burgers were overdone.

“Wahlburgers required its Coney Island restaurant to close due to a number of factors,” a representative told Page Six. “The same franchise group was in the process of developing a space in Times Square. In both cases the franchisee was not operating in compliance with Wahlburgers business practices and brand standards.”

A couple years ago, the Wahlbergs said they planned to open over 25 Wahlburgers locations in Florida and New York in the next several years. Eventually the family — who star in an A&E reality show also called Wahlburgers — wants to open 300 outposts nationwide.