BATON ROUGE - A local wing spot and post-Tigerland favorite is closing down after 21 years of service.

Both Baton Rouge Pluckers locations - the ones near the mall on Bluebonnet Drive and near LSU's campus on Nicholson Drive - closed this week. WBRZ was sent a screenshot of a text message sent to employees saying that Monday was the last day for both restaurants. 

Employees will be receiving their last paycheck as well as an additional check in two weeks as severance. 
The two spots in Baton Rouge were the only franchised locations outside the state of Texas.

Pluckers Corporate released the following statement Tuesday morning: 

Pluckers is proud to have been a part of the Baton Rouge community for the past 21 years. As the only franchised locations in operation, the two stores were up for renewal.  Our focus is to always deliver the best environment for our guests.  During renewal discussions, we requested a number of upgrades to the franchised stores.  After many conversations with our franchisee over the economy and the increased costs to upgrade, together we determined that the best decision was to close these locations. We are sad to end this chapter, but we remain excited about the future of Pluckers and our continued expansion.

WBRZ's social media posts about Pluckers received several comments shocked to hear them closing so suddenly.

"Man, it's kind of crazy all things considered because I've been to Pluckers a couple of times and it's been pretty fun. I always had a good time there. However, hearing that it's closing now, just caught me off guard," LSU student Dee Rogers said.

"I was kind of disappointed because I used to hang out with my friends there," LSU student Eli Milton said.

WBRZ reached out to the owner of one of the Baton Rouge locations as well as the media director for Pluckers Corporate office in Austin, Texas, but did not get a response back.