WWTBAM Bored

Preface -- I understand that businesses sometimes have to shutter facilities and do other unpleasant things. I've had it happen to me more than once, and I've been the one making that call more than once.

But somehow, when you shut down 74 restaurants nationwide at one time, as Ovation Brands (Ryan's Steakhouse, Old Country Buffet Hometown Buffet, et al.), did, and don't give any notice to the employees, that's just wrong. It's not like the entire company went kablooey because the bank called the mortgage or something sudden. It's something that folks in corporate should have known and given enough time to give the workers a heads-up. But of course, that doesn't benefit the company, so it often doesn't happen.

This, from my old stomping grounds, kind of sums it up.

http://whnt.com/2016/02/04/several-ryan ... h-alabama/

It sounds like that might be a violation of the WARN Act.

https://www.doleta.gov/programs/factsht/warn.htm

SpacemanSpiff wrote:
But somehow, when you shut down 74 restaurants nationwide at one time, as Ovation Brands (Ryan's Steakhouse, Old Country Buffet Hometown Buffet, et al.), did, and don't give any notice to the employees, that's just wrong. It's not like the entire company went kablooey because the bank called the mortgage or something sudden. It's something that folks in corporate should have known and given enough time to give the workers a heads-up. But of course, that doesn't benefit the company, so it often doesn't happen.

The Ovation chain is on its last legs already. At one time, Ryan's was a healthy competitor for Golden Corral, but their quality kept going down while the quality at Golden Corral went up. Golden Corral isn't Ruth Chris or even Longhorn, but it is a cut above most of the other homestyle cooking buffets around. Ryan's, on the other hand, kept going with cheaper meats, less selection, and worse service, and the extra dollar or so in price savings simply wasn't worth it.

A couple of years ago, I had a chance to get a deal on a Ryan's gift card purchase and I found out there weren't any left in the entire metro Atlanta area, when there used to be about a half dozen. In fact, there weren't any on the entire route we drove to go down to Florida for our cruise (I used to pick up a restaurant deal for the port where we would stay the night before).

As for not telling employees, that makes sense. Nobody is going to want to eat at a restaurant that's closing its doors because of poor business, and if the employees find out about it in advance, theft and vandalism go through the roof. Smart employees would probably already figure that inventory levels were getting very low anyway.

SpacemanSpiff wrote:Preface -- I understand that businesses sometimes have to shutter facilities and do other unpleasant things. I've had it happen to me more than once, and I've been the one making that call more than once.

But somehow, when you shut down 74 restaurants nationwide at one time, as Ovation Brands (Ryan's Steakhouse, Old Country Buffet Hometown Buffet, et al.), did, and don't give any notice to the employees, that's just wrong. It's not like the entire company went kablooey because the bank called the mortgage or something sudden. It's something that folks in corporate should have known and given enough time to give the workers a heads-up. But of course, that doesn't benefit the company, so it often doesn't happen.

This, from my old stomping grounds, kind of sums it up.

http://whnt.com/2016/02/04/several-ryan ... h-alabama/

That kind of thoughtlessness can be found even at a lower level. When the guy who owned the Ponderosa franchise me and my Dad ate at weekly for 13 years (And one other in the area) decided to get out of the business a few months ago, rather than quietly try to find someone to sell the business to, he shut down both restaurants with exactly 5 days notice to the employees. A number of them from the restaurant we went to had worked there at least as long as we'd been coming. This also went down the week of Thanksgiving of all times....

Fortunately, many of those employees were quickly scooped by another Ponderosa franchise in the area (though about 20 miles away from this one). We ate there the morning they found out about the decision, and that was the hardest and most awkward meal we ever had feeling bad for the people who'd been so good to us over the years...

lb13

Bob Juch wrote:It sounds like that might be a violation of the WARN Act.

https://www.doleta.gov/programs/factsht/warn.htm

When I read Spiff's synopsis, I thought that too, but the knowledge I had about the WARN Act is almost gone. I studied it for my HR certification, but it didn't even remotely apply to a small municipality. Thanks to Bob for the link, but I'm not going to check it

Based on the summary, it seems right to me, but I don't have independent knowledge of the WARN Act's requirements. --Bob