Local News

“I am closing on my terms,” owner Erika Madden wrote in a post explaining that the drive-in restaurant will close next year.

By Darin Zullo

August 24, 2025 | 11:22 AM

1 minute to read

After more than six decades in business, the beloved Star Drive-In restaurant is closing its doors, according to owner Erika Madden.

“It is with a very heavy heart that I need to address the rumors that are out there,” Madden wrote Friday in a Facebook post announcing that the East Taunton restaurant will close in March 2026. The closure date coincides with the end of the terms of Madden’s lease on the property.

Around the same time that Madden signed the five-year lease, the entity that had previously purchased the property across the street and built a self-storage facility also purchased the Star Drive-In property, according to the post. Though she did not want to “get into the specifics of those issues,” Madden wrote that many people within the city government and several other departments “have not offered any help or assistance even after my repeated pleas for help.”

Taunton Mayor Shaunna O’Connell told The Taunton Daily Gazette that city officials have “worked tirelessly to support the Star Drive-In, assisting in securing grant funding and providing more than $60,000 in improvements at no cost to the owner or operator.” However, she said there are “legal and fiscal limits on what we can do for a privately-owned business.”

Despite the sad news, Madden added that The Star Drive-In had its “Best Summer Season” on record this year. In addition to movie nights, the drive-in restaurant is known for hosting numerous community events, including Jeep shows, bike nights, and live music.

Madden has owned The Star Drive-In since 2016. She initially planned to make the announcement months later but wrote that she had been receiving messages from “loyal customers” and that the closure was mentioned at a zoning board meeting, according to the post.

“Please know that I will do everything within my power to continue to provide the community with the service, charity, fresh food and free to the community events that I have over the past 9 years,” Madden wrote in the post. “I’m very proud of everything I’ve been able to accomplish and give back over the last 10 years. I am closing on my terms.”