{"id":4698,"date":"2022-12-28T23:00:14","date_gmt":"2022-12-28T23:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maderatribustg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=4698"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:20:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:20:37","slug":"smokehouse-closes-but-ready-for-new-chapter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/smokehouse-closes-but-ready-for-new-chapter\/","title":{"rendered":"Smokehouse closes, but ready for new chapter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For the past four years, Sugar Pine Smokehouse has been serving the citizens of Madera high-quality barbecue food while also serving the community.<\/p>

Unfortunately, SPS closed its doors at its current location in the Madera Marketplace on Saturday.<\/p>

General Manager Lisa Gill closed that chapter in the restaurant, but is excited about moving to a new location about a half-mile down the street.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m really excited to be able to move forward and do it the way I feel it should be done, not that it was bad or wrong,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just exciting to get to that step in my life that I\u2019m finally doing it.\u201d<\/p>

The new Sugar Pine Smokehouse will be located at 1410 Country Club Drive, Suite 100 and 102, right across from the new Dutch Bros.<\/p>

\u201cWe signed the lease last Thursday and we\u2019re set to go,\u201d Gill said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a little over 2,300 square feet. It\u2019s probably as big as our bar area with a little extra, but with seating, it will be about as big as our bar.\u201d<\/p>

Although there are concerns about moving into a smaller space, Gill is ready for what the next chapter in Sugar Pine Smokehouse will bring.<\/p>

\u201cThere\u2019s going to be a million no\u2019s why it should be a good spot,\u201d Gill said. \u201cFor us, the yes\u2019s are it\u2019s affordable and the people that own the building were very easy to work with and it helped us a lot.\u201d<\/p>

Gill was forced to close down Sugar Pine because the people that own the site the restaurant is on sold it to In-N-Out Burger. She wants the community to know that her investors, GQ Investment, aren\u2019t the bad guys.<\/p>

\u201cIn-N-Out bought the building from Newman Investment Group, which owns the entire development,\u201d she said. \u201cGQ Investment group that owns us right now are the best group of people to work with. Even though they chose not to work with the restaurant, it just wasn\u2019t their thing. They wanted me to have a part of it. They wanted to make sure I continued what I built. They wanted me to keep the name and keep pushing forward. They have done a lot for me.\u201d<\/p>

Gill hopes to begin construction at the new year.<\/p>

\u201cConstruction should start right after the first, with the exception of us going in there and clearing out some stuff,\u201d she said. The holidays have set us back a little.\u201d<\/p>

Gill will still have the SPS smoker and will bring that same flavor to the new restaurant.<\/p>

\u201cUnfortunately, there\u2019s not enough for it to stay stationary at the new restaurant,\u201d she said. \u201cMy husband is building it on a trailer so we\u2019ll be mobile. Now when we do catering events, we\u2019ll be able to take it with us. It\u2019s going to be a neat little addition to us.\u201d<\/p>

Gill was one of the founding people of SPS when it first opened four years ago. Although she is sad to leave the location and into the new one, the thing that bothers her the most is not being able to see her regular customers and also downsizing her staff.<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019re very sad, especially here we have 50 employees,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen we go to the new location, we\u2019ll only be able to have 15-20. We\u2019re going to have to say good-bye to some, although some have moved on to new jobs. The time we are closed down for three months, it\u2019s going to be sad not to see our regulars. It\u2019s a little sad to be missing out, but very exciting for the next chapter.\u201d<\/p>

Gill will open the new restaurant with three other partners \u2014 her son, Daniel, her head server Tanna Van Loon, and bar manager Jesse Dibble.<\/p>

\u201cTanna and I have worked together for years and years,\u201d Gill said. \u201cIt\u2019s all coming together. I\u2019m excited for her to have a piece with all of us.\u201d<\/p>

Gill said she signed a three-year lease at the new building with an option to keep going. She would like to open new restaurants or expand, but knows she doesn\u2019t know what the future holds.<\/p>

\u201cI know there\u2019s a lot happen in Madera and new shopping centers opening up,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe a spot will open up for us to move, or maybe we\u2019ll be very happy in our little spot and maybe open a few more. I\u2019ve had a vision of opening in small towns like Oakhurst or Fowler.\u201d<\/p>

She is hoping for the opportunity to be a successful restaurant because there aren\u2019t many options in Madera.<\/p>

\u201cThere aren\u2019t too many sit down opportunities in Madera,\u201d she said. \u201cI know there are many great things to come and happen. There so much need in the town that all of us restaurant owners should succeed and support one another. We have customers that come from Firebaugh and Fresno. People always talk about Madera people going to Fresno. But, we have people who come from Fresno to visit us because we give them the quality they want.\u201d<\/p>

Obviously with a smaller kitchen, Gill\u2019s menu at the new Sugar Pine will be a bit smaller, but she said there will be times when favorites are available.<\/p>

\u201cThe kitchen will be about one-third of what we have now,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s not saying we won\u2019t ever do some of our dishes. We might bring them in as specials. We won\u2019t be able to do breakfast seven days a week, but will have it on the weekends. We won\u2019t be able to do big parties, but I might be able to rent out the restaurant for a private party. We\u2019re still going to try to do some fun stuff that the community needs.\u201d<\/p>

The past two weeks have been busy for Gill and she appreciates all the outpouring of support.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m overwhelmed by the kindness of the community,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have gotten so much positive feedback. I am so thankful for all the kind words. I think people need to realize it\u2019s hard for us to say good-bye. Not only are we saying good-bye, but we are having 50 people unemployed at Christmas. It has just been very hard. By the people saying the kind thing, it helps lifts our sprits and bring Christmas joy to us.\u201d<\/p>

Gill wants to let the community know that the decorations inside the restaurant have found a good home and won\u2019t be just thrown away.<\/p>

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a lot of space for the d\u00e9cor in the new place,\u201d she said. \u201cTwo of the walls are solid windows. One of the walls is the bar. I believe the gentleman that owns the small buildings has reached an agreement with Kim at the Waffle Spot to go there. I think she has a perfect location to have displayed. She will value them. Some of the larger pictures have been sold to people that have an attachment to them. Some will be donated to the museum. I have encountered really cool Sugar Pine stuff. People have gifted me so much stuff over the years. Some of that stuff will go on loan.\u201d<\/p>

She also wants to thank the E Clampus Vitus #41-49 Grub Gulch Chapter for their help in getting her started at her new place.<\/p>

\u201cThey have been absolutely amazing to us for being our patrons, supporting us at city meetings,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are helping me do the big move on their own time. The big train we have behind the hostess desk, I won\u2019t have room for it. One the Clampers will hold it at his place for me. He collects trains. He says it will look cool where it will go, but he promises it\u2019s on loan if I ever want it back. We are trying to find homes for everything.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past four years, Sugar Pine Smokehouse has been serving the citizens of Madera high-quality barbecue food while also serving the community. Unfortunately, SPS closed its doors at its current location in the Madera Marketplace on Saturday. General Manager Lisa Gill closed that chapter in the restaurant, but is excited about moving to a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":34804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-4698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-business"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}