Warwick’s Bugaboo Creek, the outlet that launched the chain, closed suddenly yesterday, leaving about 40 employees out of work and raising essential questions about the 30-restaurant chain, started by Ned Grace in 1993.

According to news reports, CB Holding Corp. with offices in Mountainside, NJ closed 20 of its 49 Charlie Brown’s Steakhouses and 10 of its 30 Bugaboo Creek restaurants on Monday.

The Bugaboos cited are in Massachusetts and Georgia, with no mention of the Warwick restaurant.

“We thought our jobs were secure. This is the first ever and we thought it wouldn’t be closed,” said Tabatha Perez, who had worked at Bugaboo for the last eight months as a waitress. Perez said she was texted by a hostess not to report for work.

“I was never even called,” she said.

Grace developed Bugaboo’s north woods theme with its trademark moose head and cabin-like interior. Grace also started the Capital Grille, and owned and operated Frederick’s in Conimicut, the Grist Mill in Seekonk and Bentley’s in Warwick.

In its hey-day, there were lines outside Bugaboo.

“It was so packed, you couldn’t get from the bar to the tables,” Perez said.

“I’m a little bummed out,” said Kelly Smith who worked “on and off” at Bugaboo for 15 years. Smith remembers the glory days of the restaurant and then seeing the decline. Unlike Route 2, where shoppers might choose to stop at a restaurant spontaneously, she called Bugaboo on Jefferson Boulevard “a destination.”

“You had to make the decision you were going there,” she said.

Of the two Bugaboos in the area, Smith called the Seekonk restaurant the strongest.

“If they close that, that’s it,” she speculated.

Perez said she has witnessed a slowdown at the restaurant in recent months, not only in customers but also from the owners. She said that scheduled reupholstering never happened and that orders for restocking the restaurant weren’t filled or were delayed.

Yesterday, shortly after noon, about 15 employees gathered outside the restaurant seeking information about their jobs and looking to get into the building to recover personal belongings.

According to a posting on the Bugaboo website, the closings followed an earlier repositioning moves at Charlie Brown’s by CB Holding, which is majority owned by Trimaran Capital Partners of New York.

“This past summer, CB Holding chief executive Samuel Borgese said his company was exploring strategic alternatives, including the possible sale of Bugaboo Creek, which was acquired from Rare Hospitality Inc. in 2007,” the report reads.

In addition to Charlie Brown’s and Bugaboo Creek, CB Holding also operates seven The Office Beer Bar & Grill restaurants in New Jersey. It had estimated 2009 sales of $219 million, according to Nation’s Restaurant News Top 200 research, down from $239.1 million in 2008.

According to news reports, the closing of the Charlie Brown’s and Bugaboo outlets affected about 1,400 employees.

“It’s pretty sad, we weren’t given any warning,” said Perez.