Santa Fe Cattle Co., a Nashville-based restaurant chain, closed its Three Springs Road eatery Monday after 15 years in Bowling Green.

As the recession continues to plague businesses nationwide, the company decided to close the Bowling Green restaurant due to low sales, said Chris Beckler, vice president of operations.

“Times are tough,” he said. “You have got to really take a good look at business and those restaurants that are not able to sustain a certain level of sales.”

The restaurant also is not in a good location, said Linda Jones, dining room manager.

“(They were) just wanting to close a lower volume store and put money into higher volume stores,” she said. “This wasn’t really a good location anyway; it was a decision the owners had to make.”

The restaurant was open Sunday. It closed Sunday night at 10 p.m. and did not reopen Monday.

About 40 employees worked at Santa Fe – the majority of them were told Monday that the restaurant closed and that they were out of work.

“It’s been devastating,” Jones said. “A lot of them had children … but it’s all been devastating. They’re really a great group of people; they really are great employees.”

The majority of the workers were full-time employees; about 10 people worked part time.

The employees received severance pay and some received continuation of benefits and assistance with possible relocation, Beckler said.

“We tried to do everything we could to make it as painless as possible,” he said. “It was a difficult decision, and we know it impacts everyone in the community. I’ve been in the business for 20 years, and it’s never an easy thing to do.”

Jones has worked with the company for 10 years and as manager of the Bowling Green restaurant for six months. Jones and other managers will return to work in Nashville. Even in a sound economy, the Bowling Green restaurant would produce mediocre sales, she said.

“That’s the whole point,” she said. “It was never going to do more, even if the economy got better again.”

Managers have fielded numerous calls from customers inquiring about the restaurant’s closure.

“They’ve been calling in all morning, and it’s really sad,” she said, “just that they’re going miss us. There were a lot of regulars.”