St-Hubert BBQ on St-Denis Street to close in May

Up to 80 jobs will be lost when the St-Hubert BBQ on St-Denis Street closes its doors May 12.

Its parent company, the St-Hubert Group, stated Tuesday the location wasn't profitable.

It is one of 13 corporately-owned restaurants in a network of 123 establishments.

A spokesperson for the chain, Josée Vaillancourt, said they had evaluated the possibility of converting the restaurant into a franchise and selling it.

In the end, they decided to close it instead.

Another location, in Montreal's Pointe-aux-Trembles district, will be converted into a St-Hubert Express and combined with a Harvey's hamburger restaurant.

Both are owned by the same parent company, Cara Operations Ltd.

It has been five months since the Ontario-based company completed the acquisition of the St-Hubert Group, which it bought for $540.2 million last year.

Cara owns Swiss Chalet and other restaurant chains across Canada. The sale was announced last March and quickly sparked widespread outrage in Quebec.