O'Naturals Restaurant, at 100 Market St. in Portsmouth, closed permanently on Friday, Sept. 3. About a dozen employees were gathered together and notified Friday morning, the same day customers found a note on the locked door.

"We had the most extraordinary base of loyal customers, but there wasn't enough of them," said company CEO Mac McCabe in a phone interview from the company's Portland headquarters. The location opened in August 2003, and, he said, "It became pretty clear going into the winter we hadn't appreciated how quiet it was going to be. In the summer, we needed counter-seasonality to balance that out, and it wasn't going to do it."

The business, which has three other locations-in Portland, and in Acton, Falmouth, Mass.-serves organic and all-natural "quick food." McCabe said all other stores are reaching their goals for profitability, and they've bought Carberry's Restaurant in Somerville, Mass., to open a new O'Naturals there this fall. But while Portland experienced a bump in customers this summer, Portsmouth did not.

The restaurant's location has previously been home to two other restaurants that closed, Ciento and Lou's Upstairs Grill.

McCabe said employees were given severance pay, but declined to share the amount.