Lyn-Lake bar Fool Me Once abruptly closes after less than a year

Fool Me Once, which described itself as a “cosmic cantina” at the intersection of Lyndale and Lake Street in Minneapolis, has closed.

Workers were surprised when they arrived at the establishment, which opened on the site of the former Country Bar and Side Chick last summer, and found it closed, according to Facebook posts and a GoFundMe for the staff.

“The bar faced challenges from the beginning with the owner’s concept not fit for the neighborhood it was in. ... The team worked tirelessly to try to fix the issues,” wrote June De, Fool Me Once’s general manager, who is organizing the fundraiser. The post blamed “mismanagement at the hands of ownership” for the closing.

“Without notice, the owners took the keys and laid off all the staff,” the post says. “The team and community are heartbroken and many of the team have nowhere to go as of now.”

Food and beverage director Will Benedetto did not respond to a Star Tribune request for comment, and an email to another principal, Jeremy Hicks, came back as “undeliverable.” Social media accounts for the bar have been deleted.

The whimsical bar opened last August, a rainbow/outer-space/cowboy-themed watering hole that aimed to be a neighborhood and industry hangout, with cocktails and smashburgers in front of a trippy neon back bar.

Benedetto, who partnered and consulted on bars in Tennessee and New York, originally came to Minneapolis to revamp the drinks at Up-Down, half a block away. Up-Down’s ownership partnered in the launch of Fool Me Once.

In a 2023 interview, Benedetto said that the bar’s outer-space theme reflected the way the founders felt as non-Minnesotans, and drove their effort to create an inclusive space.

“We’re aliens here,” he said. “Everyone’s an alien somewhere. So, how do you make an alien comfortable?”