The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo’s restaurant closed last week, sparking social media speculation that the zoo was closing as well.

But zoo director Joel Hamilton said that is not the case. He said the zoo was open on Monday, and he said the shuttered restaurant – the Safari Club – is set to reopen as early as Tuesday.

“The restaurant was temporarily closed last week,” Hamilton said to AL.com. “We are anticipating opening it back up either tomorrow or Wednesday.”

Hamilton said a change in management is the reason for the restaurant’s temporary closure. The restaurant, while operating under same non-profit as the zoo, is a separate entity and is not overseen by Hamilton.

But the restaurant also is the concessionaire throughout the zoo property. With it close, there is no food aside from vending machines, he said.

“We’re both on the same property,” he said. “The restaurant provides concessions within the park of the zoo and right now we don’t have zoo food. We have a variety of vending machines for our guests.

He added, “We hope to have things resolved by the end of the week. The goal is tomorrow. But certainly it will be this week that the restaurant is open.”

The Safari Club opened in 2019 – before the zoo’s opening in 2020 — and became the first Alabama restaurant certified by the Green Restaurant Association. Its motto was, “Proudly serving herbivores, omnivores and carnivores.”

The Green Association’s recognition was a difficult one to achieve. The Safari Club earned the rating on the strength or efficient energy and water use and its handling of waste. The restaurant, according to the Green Association two years ago, earned the designation through investing in energy-efficient kitchen fixtures to using switches that automatically cut off the bathroom lights when no one is inside.

The club and the zoo are located at 20499 Oak Road East in Gulf Shores, a few miles north of the Intracoastal Waterway and off Alabama State Route 59.

The zoo relocated from to its new location from the old one that was closer to the beaches in Gulf Shores because the former site was vulnerable to hurricane-driven storm surges. Efforts to evacuate animals from the zoo captured national attention and earned the venue a moniker, “the little zoo the could.”