Closing a restaurant is never easy, but there are better ways than locking out employees, as some companies have been doing, said Tony Boen, regional manager for Duluth, Minn.-based Grandma’s Restaurant Co. Grandma’s now operates eight Minnesota restaurants, in Duluth, Canal Park, Miller Hill and the town of Virginia, under the brand names Grandma’s Saloon & Grill, Little Angie’s, Bellisio’s Wine Bar, and The Great American Bar & Grill.
Boen, who has been with Grandma’s for 21 years, has orchestrated the closing of three restaurants in the past three years, largely for financial reasons linked to Minnesota’s elimination of the tip credit and increased minimum wages. Profits were further hampered by rising food and energy costs. The collapse of the Interstate-35W bridge over the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis was the final straw for the adjacent Grandma’s branch that closed in May.
Some operators close without warning because they fear employees will abandon ship too quickly. How much advance notice did you give?
I and the president of the company, Brian Daugherty, went to the stores and set up all-employee meetings. We let them decide how they wanted to close. If a major majority of employees agreed to stay open for two to four weeks, we would pay them severance…if they stayed through their last shift. If we did not get a majority, we would close immediately. Each time we stayed open for three to four weeks.
And employees stayed?
We lost some of the back-of-the-house when we closed the Plymouth [Minn.] store. The back-of-the-house is a better market; it’s easier to find jobs. But we were able to stay open for lunch, so the waitstaff could keep working until they found something.
How could you afford to do that?
We actually saw a bump in sales from regular customers coming in for their “last meal” by announcing the closing date. Really, it’s the people we hire. They are proud of what they do [and] proud of their jobs, and they take great pride in the work they do.
What advice would give other operators who have to close stores?
Understand what your employees are going through. Put yourselves in their shoes. Give them what you would hope to get and be there for them. Give them your phone number. Go visit them. Sit down with them, have dinner, talk about their future if they want help. Treat them the way you would want to be treated.
