Restaurant closings

[SoonerDave]

Great, thanks everyone.

[SoonerDave]

Hal Smith announced the immediate indefinite closure of ALL their restaurants.

[BBatesokc]

Hal Smith announced the immediate indefinite closure of ALL their restaurants.

I personally can't stand those who run the show. Known too many people that worked for this organization that got screwed over. That aside, they employ(ed) a lot of people and served some really good food. That's horrible for them as many of their restaurants made good money for their servers so this was not a side job. I thought for sure Charlestons would continue with togo orders and limited staff.

[Pete]

Hal Smith restaurants employ well over 1,000 people.

And BTW, I've had the exact opposite experience with decision-makers in that company.

[rte66man]

^^^ it’s everywhere. I read this news update which has daily articles (except weekends) to get transportation related news and it’s even filled headlines here:
https://news.transportation.org/pages/dailyupdate.aspx

I should have known you get that update

[TheTravellers]

In a post on NextDoor, the owner (or manager) of Sauced (Donn Cross) said they've let all their workers go, and Picasso Cafe and Paseo Grill have done the same, so they can start getting unemployment benefits. Guessing that's happening all over, it's just not being said/posted.

[BBatesokc]

Hal Smith restaurants employ well over 1,000 people.

And BTW, I've had the exact opposite experience with decision-makers in that company.

I'm going to assume your relationship and dealings are completely different than being a minion working for them.

[BoulderSooner]

In a post on NextDoor, the owner (or manager) of Sauced (Donn Cross) said they've let all their workers go, and Picasso Cafe and Paseo Grill have done the same, so they can start getting unemployment benefits. Guessing that's happening all over, it's just not being said/posted.

yes and that number is somwhere above 7.5 million nation wide or more up to mabye 10

that is on the low side a 5% rise in unemployment

[jbkrems]

Saturn Grill has closed; and also All About Cha on Covell in Edmond. Its very important to Shop Local and support small businesses during this time!

[ctchandler]

Hal Smith restaurants employ well over 1,000 people.

And BTW, I've had the exact opposite experience with decision-makers in that company.

Pete,
I agree totally. I have two grandchildren in college that worked for his restaurants and they have been treated very fairly. My grandson went through two failures (Holly's and Matty McMillen's) and all employees including part time servers were offered positions in other stores. Before they closed, they laid off a lot of servers and they were all told to apply for unemployment benefits. Not all companies would do that because it costs them money.
C. T.

[Bits_Of_Real_Panther]

McNellies group (tulsa, okc, little rock) layed off 700 people.

[jbkrems]

McNellies Group is still open, at least some of their concepts. Yokozuna in OKC is doing to-go orders and possibly deliveries. Meanwhile, here's another closure: Cimmaron Steakhouse on Meridian. Temporarily closed.

[Thomas Vu]

McNellies group (tulsa, okc, little rock) layed off 700 people.

Wow I had no idea mcnellies, even as a group, had that many people.

[Jeepnokc]

We closed STAG Lounge but we are fortunate that we have almost as many partners as employees so we are able to continue to pay our staff through the shut down

[BBatesokc]

Pete,
I agree totally. I have two grandchildren in college that worked for his restaurants and they have been treated very fairly. My grandson went through two failures (Holly's and Matty McMillen's) and all employees including part time servers were offered positions in other stores. Before they closed, they laid off a lot of servers and they were all told to apply for unemployment benefits. Not all companies would do that because it costs them money.
C. T.

Their restaurant groups makes a lot of money. It's their money to do with as they please. But I would have hoped they would have continued to pay employees for up to 30 days and reevaluated then and given those employees a chance (while getting paid) to seek other employment. Basically saying "Well, they fired everyone and told them to get on unemployment" is not something to congratulate them for, IMO. You don't need to be told to go apply for unemployment and that's a person's first step once let go.

[FighttheGoodFight]

yes and that number is somwhere above 7.5 million nation wide or more up to mabye 10

that is on the low side a 5% rise in unemployment

I know some think the worse case scenario for this is 20% unemployment. Do we think that most of this is in the restaurant, retail and hospitality sectors? This is going to be wild...

[KTB]

I was picking up from Poblano last night and they said Bravo had closed all of their restaurants permanently. They also said one of their vendors supplies all the bread for Hal Smith restaurants. This vendor was informed they aren’t going to be paid for open invoices.

[Pete]

I was picking up from Poblano last night and they said Bravo had closed all of their restaurants permanently.

What does Bravo own?

[gopokes88]

I know some think the worse case scenario for this is 20% unemployment. Do we think that most of this is in the restaurant, retail and hospitality sectors? This is going to be wild...

No it’ll start hitting corporate America in the next two weeks.

[Teo9969]

I know some think the worse case scenario for this is 20% unemployment. Do we think that most of this is in the restaurant, retail and hospitality sectors? This is going to be wild...

Worst case scenario is substantially more than 20% unemployment. The world economy runs on the circulation of money and that circulation has ground to a halt. Additionally, this happened in the worst possible order. China is going to recover first with no market to produce for (except for their own). The economic inefficiencies that are going to arise from this if we stay locked down for another 6+ weeks is the major enemy to recovery. Capital is going to be confused for quite some time on where to invest (though at least one sector, O&G, is off the table for no less than a decade), and only after they start making decisions can supply chains ramp up.

Restaurants are one of the few things that can quickly ramp up since the infrastructure didn't really go away and the barriers to entry are comparitively low. The only problem restaurants are going to find in the long run is a significantly decreased market share because entire sectors of the economy are going to be in shambles.

On the bright side, many people who have lost their job will enter back into the service industry and the level of service in OKC should increase immensely in comparison to the previous 5 years of "sub-standard" service we've grown accustomed to.

[ctchandler]

Their restaurant groups makes a lot of money. It's their money to do with as they please. But I would have hoped they would have continued to pay employees for up to 30 days and reevaluated then and given those employees a chance (while getting paid) to seek other employment. Basically saying "Well, they fired everyone and told them to get on unemployment" is not something to congratulate them for, IMO. You don't need to be told to go apply for unemployment and that's a person's first step once let go.

I have been involved in cases where the company (large one) went to court to challenge unemployment. My grandkids are part time employees and they were treated very well and are pleased with how they were taken care of. I have no idea (but I will ask) whether there was any severance pay. I seriously doubt it, most companies don't give severance pay to part timers. As far as making a lot of money, it is locally owned and yes they have a lot of stores, but they still have bills even in a closed restaurant and like a lot of places, it's going to difficult to stay in business when you are paying leases and other things with zero income.
C. T.

[jbkrems]

Paseo Grill has closed along with Sauced

[SEMIweather]

Paseo Grill has closed along with Sauced

Do you have a source on Sauced, saw on Facebook that they were still doing takeout and delivery as of this morning.

[BBatesokc]

I have been involved in cases where the company (large one) went to court to challenge unemployment. My grandkids are part time employees and they were treated very well and are pleased with how they were taken care of. I have no idea (but I will ask) whether there was any severance pay. I seriously doubt it, most companies don't give severance pay to part timers. As far as making a lot of money, it is locally owned and yes they have a lot of stores, but they still have bills even in a closed restaurant and like a lot of places, it's going to difficult to stay in business when you are paying leases and other things with zero income.
C. T.

From what I have been told, employees (at least at two restaurants) were given little to no notice. Just fired. The fact they could close all stores at once without even a care to offer togo options and employ some of their wait and cook staff only shows how successful they really are. They can crawl back into their shell, pay the higher ups and their lease payments and wait this out and then just restaff. Not a good company or example IMO.

I look to places like The Good Egg group as excellent examples. They took time to reorganize and quickly shifted to togo options only. They will get my business now and going forward.

[BoulderSooner]

From Elliott Nelson (Mcnellies owner)

It’s been a trying week. Last Thursday was a normal day at work. And today, 9 days later, we’ve been forced to furlough 90% of our staff, we’ve lost 95% of our revenue despite our best carry-out efforts, and we face an uncertain future. However, we are not going to wither in the face of this challenge. We will fight to save our industry. We’ll do everything we can to rehire our staff, to restore their lives and insure that we’re here when this is all over. Thanks to everyone for their support over the last week. Now we start the hard work, with no end in site, to #saverestaurants