The parent company that owns the Logan’s Roadhouse restaurant chain has closed all 261 of its locations and fired nearly all its 18,000 furloughed employees.
The Wall Street Journal reported that CraftWorks Holdings, Inc., which also owns Old Chicago restaurants sent a memo to employees that stated the status of “all team members will be revised from furloughed to terminated.”
Workers were reportedly told that the restaurants may not reopen.
“Please know that we continue to work diligently towards a reopening date and are looking forward to the day when we hope to bring many of you back with a new suite of benefits,” CraftWorks told employees in the memo cited by the Wall Street Journal.
Not only did the restaurant company abandon its workers during this health and economic crisis, the company’s CEO, Hazem Ouf, but was also fired for stealing. He moved around money to suit his personal agenda despite never having the approval to do so.
It was reported, “Hazem Ouf was fired as CEO of the company, CraftWorks Holdings, for passing along $7 million in sales taxes to states where the company’s various brands were in operation.”
Before the pandemic, the company was already struggling. This is after a lender withdrew financing to keep the bankrupt company in operation until it could emerge from Chapter 11 protection.
The debtor-in-possession financing was withdrawn because of the “unprecedented and unforeseen outbreak of COVID-19,” the company, Craftworks Holdings, said in a court filing.
Logan’s decided it was better just to clear off their payroll and put people out of work rather than try to stay afloat during the worst economic collapse in American history.
According to AWM, although the restaurant abandoned their employees in their time of need, they did leave workers with a bit of hope.
The company shared a bit of HOPE for its affected employees on Facebook:
“Logan’s team members — The HOPE Program and Logan’s Love is managed by the CraftWorks Foundation and is a 501(3)c. The mission of HOPE is to support team members or former team members who are currently experiencing a crisis situation. Team members are defined as people who are currently or were formerly (up to 4 months post-employment) employed by CraftWorks Holdings.”
Watch the video below:
Source: AWM