The Bennigan's in Regency is already closed.
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/bennigans.restaurant.shutdown.2.782428.html
QuoteBennigan's Restaurants Shut Down Nationwide
Independent Franchise Locations Remain Open
CHICAGO (CBS) ― Customers showing up for lunch at Bennigan's restaurants in Chicago and across the country found quite a surprise Tuesday morning, when all the corporate-owned locations had signs on display reading "closed for business."
Bennigan's Grill and Tavern closed all of its corporate-owned locations nationwide after filing for bankruptcy. That amounts to 160 locations, and about 10,000 employees are out of work. Independent franchises remain open for business as usual.
Chicago and the suburbs will be hit hard. Fifteen Bennigan's in the area did not open for business for Tuesday, now that the company is being liquidated in bankruptcy court.
Some managers and some employees say they were called in the middle of the night. People got the calls at the stores, others were called at 1:00 in the morning at their homes. No one expected it.
Displaced employees wiped away tears outside the Bennigan's restaurant in Calumet City. They are among the thousands who lost their jobs when the restaurants closed.
"For them to tell us we don't have a job or anything, that's a hurtful thing, especially if you have kids," said former employee Tina Beacham.
The corporate-owned locations comprise about half the entire chain. The two locations in downtown Chicago, at 225 N. Michigan Ave. and 150 S. Michigan Ave., are both among them, and the doors to both were locked Tuesday morning.
Inside, neon signs remained lit, but the "closed for business" signs shooed passersby away. Managers said the mass-shutdown went into effect at midnight Monday night, and there was no warning.
Managers of Bennigan's location in Calumet City, and locations in Miami, Dallas and New Jersey also all confirmed to CBS 2 and our sister stations that their restaurants had shut down.
Bennigan's spokeswoman Leah Templeton said Bennigan's and Steak & Ale restaurants â€" both of which are owned by Plano, Texas-based Metromedia Restaurant Group â€" have filed for bankruptcy, along with the holding company S&A Restaurant Corp.
But not all stores that use the Bennigan's and Steak & Ale names have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Templeton said in a statement. Franchise locations are not named as debtors in the bankruptcy filing and thus are not affected, she said.
The statement said a trustee would determine "future decisions regarding the affairs of the debtor companies."
CBS 2 Legal Analyst Irv Miller explains that Chapter 7 bankruptcy means the company is being liquidated, as opposed to Chapter 11 bankruptcy, in which a company tries to reorganize and remain in business.
Miller said a Chapter 7 filing usually means a company has "major league debt," and it is unlikely that employees would get their last paycheck. He said someone could conceivably buy the assets and reopen the full Bennigan's chain, but that would only be after a long, drawn out court process.
The bankruptcy filing does not affect other two restaurant chains owned by Metromedia, Ponderosa and Bonanza Steakhouse, Templeton said in the statement.
One of the Bennigan's restaurants on Michigan Avenue is located a stone's throw from Millennium Park and the Cultural Center, the other across the street from the Art Institute. Both were popular with downtown diners, who were astounded by the development.
"I am really shocked, because there was no indication that anything was wrong," regular customer Donna Wimes said outside the North Michigan Avenue location. "The food was good; they always seemed to generate a crowd."
"We average going out about once a month to Bennigan's, and then occasionally, some of my friends from work and I would come here," said Edna Sherwood. "So they had reasonable prices and good food, so it's definitely a surprise."
Some of the Chicago area restaurants were busy. In fact, managers say the Michigan Avenue restaurants, as well as the one in Calumet, were doing very well. But experts say sales were soft around the country, and the economy was the biggest problems.
"When consumers are squeezed, they don't have the money to eat out that they did before," said food industry consultant Ron Paul with Technomic, Inc.
Paul also criticizes Bennigan's for opening too many restaurants. He says other chains have made the same mistake. Between 2002 and 2007 the top 20 chains grew more than 7 percent per year, when demand was only 2 percent. That spells more bad news for more restaurants.
"We're going to have to see more units closed, because they're not going to get the traffic to justify the rent and pay the other expenses," Paul warned.
Given the state of the economy, customer Bob Perkins said such mass-shutdowns as these are to be expected.
"The cost of food is just too high, and it's all related, with gas prices and the economy itself," Perkins said. "Until somebody takes a stand and does something, you're going to keep seeing this."
One young woman showed up at the North Michigan Avenue Bennigan's for her very first day of work Tuesday morning, only to find the restaurant closed. She declined to be interviewed.
Alphonso Prince, manager of the Bennigan's at 1250 Torrence Ave. in Calumet City, said he was notified of the shutdown at 12:10 a.m. from his area director, who was crying on the telephone. He said there was no forewarning about the shutdown.
"I'm angry," Prince said. "I'm hurt; I'm devastated."
"No blast of e-mails, nothing to say, 'Sorry, we just can't do it anymore,'" Prince continued, "just a phone call from my area director who doesn't know anything, because she just found out. She'd been with the company for 21 years."
Prince called Bennigan's shutdown "totally unprofessional."
He said he contacted his staff around 1 a.m., and many thought the news was a practical joke. He also had to tell a newly hired employee she could not come to work.
Franchise Locations Remain Open
But franchise-owned restaurants said they remained open for business as usual, according to a published report in the Times Of Northwest Indiana.
Franchise owner Larry Briski told the newspaper his locations at the Railcats Stadium in Gary, Ind., and in Highland, Hobart, Elkhart, and Angola, Ind., were all open for business as usual. The newspaper reported that the franchise operators knew about the corporate-owned closures.
There is also a franchise location in Elgin, Ill., but the vast majority of Chicago area locations are corporate-owned, and thus, have closed.
The Wall Street Journal reported recently that the Metromedia Restaurant Group violated several terms of a lending agreement with GE Capital Solutions. The company prepared a bankruptcy filing, the newspaper reported.
Bennigan's was founded in 1976. The restaurant has locations in 32 states.
The Bennigan's Web site did not mention the closings Tuesday, and still advertised a Jameson barbecue menu and other special promotions.
The Bennigan's in OP and on Baymeadows closed last year too. Same for the Steak and Ale's.
Quote from: copperfiend on July 29, 2008, 08:09:38 PM
The Bennigan's in OP and on Baymeadows closed last year too. Same for the Steak and Ale's.
While it's never good to hear about companies downsizing, this may actually manage to benefit the consumer. Bennigan's, for the most part, is absolutely foul and it's reminiscent of what we as American's consider fine to eat. Now, these chains that have been doing nothing spectacular may be forced to come up with something to make the dining experience more enjoyable. Hell, I was a fry chef at Bennigan's in college, and I'm sure the place would have been much better off if they actually hired someone who knew what they were doing.
I still cannot believe people ate that fried sandwich that Bennigan's served.
Sorry, no one benefits when 10,000 people lose their jobs....
Quote from: copperfiend on July 29, 2008, 10:09:38 PM
I still cannot believe people ate that fried sandwich that Bennigan's served.
The Monte Cristo?
I don't think I have been to a chained restaurant (like that) in years. And as for people losing their jobs, most are probably college students waiting tables (like me) and will be able to find another job easily. It isn't like the 10k jobs were lost in one city, or state, it is nation wide. Good Riddance Bennigan's
I hope Applebee's TGIF Chili's etc. follow suit.
Quote from: Jimmy Olsen on July 30, 2008, 12:36:21 AM
I don't think I have been to a chained restaurant (like that) in years. And as for people losing their jobs, most are probably college students waiting tables (like me) and will be able to find another job easily. It isn't like the 10k jobs were lost in one city, or state, it is nation wide. Good Riddance Bennigan's
I hope Applebee's TGIF Chili's etc. follow suit.
I don't think Chili's is going anywhere, especially in Jacksonville. People are easily satisfied in this town.
What's wrong with Chilis???? I happen to like it. Guess, I'm not very classy. Bennigans started going down hill many years ago and it was only a matter of time before this happend.
"I don't think I have been to a chained restaurant (like that) in years. And as for people losing their jobs, most are probably college students waiting tables (like me) and will be able to find another job easily. It isn't like the 10k jobs were lost in one city, or state, it is nation wide. Good Riddance Bennigan's
I hope Applebee's TGIF Chili's etc. follow suit."
Take that you peasants!! ;D
Quote from: Jimmy Olsen on July 30, 2008, 12:36:21 AM
I don't think I have been to a chained restaurant (like that) in years. And as for people losing their jobs, most are probably college students waiting tables (like me) and will be able to find another job easily. It isn't like the 10k jobs were lost in one city, or state, it is nation wide. Good Riddance Bennigan's
I hope Applebee's TGIF Chili's etc. follow suit.
Well, you may want them to go, but that would be tens of thousands of people w/o jobs. This makes your comment make you look like a complete ass.
Thankfully, I'm not the only one who finds it disturbing that anyone would be thrilled to know that a business has closed and people lost their jobs. It doesn't matter if those workers were college kids or not, and to even think that's okay, is sad at best.
Granted I may not have been a real big fan of those facilities, but that doesn't mean I'm glad to see it closed down and people without jobs. The economy's in bad enough shape without anyone being happy to see someone else lose their job or business.
QuoteI don't think I have been to a chained restaurant (like that) in years. And as for people losing their jobs, most are probably college students waiting tables (like me) and will be able to find another job easily. It isn't like the 10k jobs were lost in one city, or state, it is nation wide. Good Riddance Bennigan's
10,000 people losing their jobs is never a good thing and your generalization that most are probably college students doesn't make it OK. The article stated that one of the area managers had been with the company for 21 years. I'm sure there are countless wait staff that have children to feed at home and now will not have a paycheck. Whether you like "chained restaurants" or not, this is not a good thing.
Quote from: reednavy on July 30, 2008, 08:42:09 AM
Well, you may want them to go, but that would be tens of thousands of people w/o jobs. This makes your comment make you look like a complete ass.
10,000 people lost their jobs.... in 32 states. Let's do some math.
10,000/32 = 312.5 people per state. (considering they were equally disbursed.)
Let's consider Florida with a population of 18 million people.
.002% of the population of Florida lost their jobs by them shutting down.
Yes, it sucks losing a job and I think we all have lost one in the past. I do feel bad for the people but my comment wasn't:
"YAY people lost their jobs" it was "YAY Bennigan's is closing."
I wonder how many private owned restaurants had to shut down when Bennigan's moved into their neighborhood...
Jimmy, I think I remember you telling me that you love TGIFridays...........
Quote from: jacksonvilleconfidential on July 30, 2008, 02:38:55 PM
Jimmy, I think I remember you telling me that you love TGIFridays...........
Negative...... maybe when I was 16 and I lived in Nassau County where we didn't have restaurants. lol
Quote from: Jimmy Olsen on July 30, 2008, 02:35:27 PM
Quote from: reednavy on July 30, 2008, 08:42:09 AM
Well, you may want them to go, but that would be tens of thousands of people w/o jobs. This makes your comment make you look like a complete ass.
10,000 people lost their jobs.... in 32 states. Let's do some math.
10,000/32 = 312.5 people per state. (considering they were equally disbursed.)
Let's consider Florida with a population of 18 million people.
.002% of the population of Florida lost their jobs by them shutting down.
Yes, it sucks losing a job and I think we all have lost one in the past. I do feel bad for the people but my comment wasn't:
"YAY people lost their jobs" it was "YAY Bennigan's is closing."
I wonder how many private owned restaurants had to shut down when Bennigan's moved into their neighborhood...
Your wording was messed up, which perceived the notion of that. Also, that math is right, considering many of these were clustered together in mroe locations, not evenly spread.