Diners Kicked Out of Shuttering Marie Callender's Mid-Meal
Over the weekend, bankruptcy-declaring restaurant chain Marie Callender's sent some of its elite squadrons of corporado commandos to at least one of its Seattle area locations to kick out everyone inside—including longtime employees and customers who hadn't finished eating yet. Hard times demand even harder hearts!
Some diners had barely dug into their savory Heartland Chicken Pot Pies and perfecto chicken piccatas (we imagine) before The Suits came in and started telling them to leave the premises immediately:
Manager Mapp Chhim says he was told to get everyone out and lock the door. The restaurant was shutting down immediately, "I thought it was a big joke. Because I was like, I still had people in the restaurant. They're like, they need to leave."
Yeah that's right. Fuck you, hungry families. Fuck you, birthday party of 25, who had to stop their reveling and am-scray; here's a birthday you'll never forget.
In addition to the customers, people who stopped by to pick up food orders were also screwed; when they arrived at the restaurant, nobody home. But the most-screwed of all, of course, were the employees, who now have no jobs:
Chhim said about 50 people worked at the Northgate location, in addition to about 50 employees in Federal Way and several dozen more in Spokane. Together, the restaurant's closing leaves more than 100 people without a job in Washington state.
"Some of them have two kids and somehow they have to find alternative income to keep living. It's a big shock," he added. "I love working here. I love the people I work with."
A company spokeswoman calls the chain's method of shuttering its restaurants "a well thought-out but a very difficult decision." Oh that's weird, because actually it does not seem very well thought-out at all. Now, I am no seasoned restaurant-closure technician, but it seems quite feasible that Marie Callender's could have both given people 30 minutes or so to finish their meals and then shut down.
Today Perkins & Marie Callender's Inc., the restaurant chain's parent company, announced its Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing. The plan is to close 65 stores and cut 2500 jobs. Reports say that other Marie's locations nationwide are also getting the shock-and-awe treatment, so if you're planning to dine there then pack some Tupperware.