Surprise announcement from Macayo’s Mexican restaurants this afternoon: Its iconic midtown Phoenix restaurant, known as Woody’s Macayo, will close its doors tonight after 67 years.
Founders Woody and Victoria Johnson opened Woody’s Macayo on Central Avenue south of Indian School in 1952. The family-run enterprise grew to 12 locations by 2016. The original restaurant moved a few doors south in 2017.
Earlier this year, the family sold the Macayo’s brand and most of the restaurants to Mesa-based Kind Hospitality, keeping only the downtown Phoenix location and Macayo’s Depot Cantina in downtown Tempe under a two-year licensing agreement.
The Tempe location ‘‘will remain open until further notice,’’ according to Kind CEO Nava Singam.
Singam says Kind plans to open more Macayo’s locations in 2020.
