BJ’s Restaurants Inc. is furloughing about 200 restaurant managers and 40 support center employees and temporarily closing four units amid coronavirus restrictions, the company said Thursday in federal filings.
The Huntington Beach, Calif.-based casual-dining brand in early April had temporarily laid off about 16,000 hourly restaurant workers but continued to operate its 209 restaurants with take-out and delivery.
“While the company’s sales continue to increase week over week since the change to an off-premise only business, the company has decided to temporarily close four restaurants, effective April 17,” BJ’s executives noted in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
“The company will continue to regularly evaluate the strength and weekly growth of off-premise sales and associated cash flows for all restaurants and has every intention to reopen these locations as the country begins to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic,” the filing said.
BJ’s said CEO Gregory Trojan and other senior executives would reduce their base salaries by 20% as of April 22 and reduce pay for support center staff.
The company said it would reduce, on a sliding scale, the salaries of support center employees making $100,000 a year or more by 10% to 20% effective April 22.
“While the company is not obligated to do so, it is the company’s intention to repay all or a portion of these reduced salaries and cash retainers” should business conditions improve, the filing said.
Furloughed restaurant managers and corporate employers will continue on the company’s benefits program through June 30, the company said.
For the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, BJ’s net income rose to $14.5 million, or 75 cents a share, from $10.7 million, or 49 cents a share, in the prior-year period. The quarter’s income reflected two sale-leaseback transactions. Revenues grew about 3.1%, to $291.1 million, from the year-ago quarter. Same-store sales in the quarter rose 0.4%.
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