Durant restaurant shuts down for name change
Three weeks after Kevin Durant announced he was leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors, the local restaurant bearing his name temporarily shut down Sunday to assume a new identity.
Oklahoma-based restaurant group Hal Smith Restaurants, which owns a majority stake in KD’s Southern Cuisine, formally announced the change in direction Monday.
“It has been an honor — and a lot of fun — to partner with Kevin at KD’s these last few years,” Hal Smith said in a statement. “We wish him the very best as he takes a new direction in his career.”
Smith said a new name will be announced in August, but that he planned to keep a majority of the menu, including “our famous fried chicken.”
As soon as Durant announced he was leaving for the Bay Area, it was clear the restaurant’s name had to be changed soon, as angry fans attacked the Yelp listing for the restaurant — which typically had very good reviews — and took shots at the All-Star forward.
The change in venue is one of the fastest shifts in athlete restaurant history. KD’s was changed in half the time it took a Milwaukee restaurant group to take Ryan Braun’s name off two of its restaurants after he was suspended in July 2013 for violating the league’s drug program.
Durant once owned a stake in the restaurant. It is not known how much Durant might still own or whether he has cashed out.
