Papa Murphy’s, Cold Stone Creamery parent company MTY Food Group closes 2,100 restaurants and lays off half of its employees in response to COVID-19 crisisPapa Murphy’s, Cold Stone Creamery parent company MTY Food Group closes 2,100 restaurants and lays off half of its employees in response to COVID-19 crisis

Joanna Fantozzi

MTY Food Group Inc. – the Montreal, Canada-based franchisor of 75 brands, including Papa Murphy’s, Cold Stone Creamery, and Pinkberry — has announced that it will be delaying the release of its quarterly financial results from April 14 to May 29 amid mass layoffs and store closures. The company announced that it has temporarily laid off half of its workforce and temporarily closed 2,100 stores, while the remaining stores are currently operating at reduced capacity in response to the global COVID-19 crisis.

"Ensuring a safe and healthy working environment for our workforce as well as helping our franchisees and business partners during these difficult times is a primary focus for MTY and we continue to implement and enforce additional precautionary health and safety measures" Eric Lefebvre, chief executive officer of MTY said in a statement.  

Additionally, the quarterly dividend that was due in May has been suspended and the company’s leadership team has voluntarily reduced their salaries to help mitigate losses.

MTY Food Group has stipulated that while the company expects these store closures and layoffs to be temporary, “there is significant uncertainty around the ultimate extent, duration, severity of the pandemic itself and effects on consumer behavior.”

“MTY is extremely thankful to all its business partners, financial institutions, landlords and the authorities that are for the vast majority of them making significant sacrifices to help MTY and its franchise partners weather the storm and bounce back when the situation goes back to normal,” Lefebvre said in a statement.

MTY Food Group acquired Papa Murphy’s Holdings Inc in May 2019 for $190 million. The company has approximately 6,000 restaurant locations in North America.

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