Parent company to Gordon Biersch, Rock Bottom fires 18,000 employees

FILE - The parent company behind Gordon Biersch, Rock Bottom and other restaurant chains has fired 18,000 employees. FILE - The parent company behind Gordon Biersch, Rock Bottom and other restaurant chains has fired 18,000 employees. Photo: (Photo By Robert Lachman/Los Angeles Times Via Getty Images) Photo: (Photo By Robert Lachman/Los Angeles Times Via Getty Images) Image 1 of / 49 Caption Close Parent company to Gordon Biersch, Rock Bottom fires 18,000 employees 1 / 49 Back to Gallery

Editor’s note, April 2, 2020: A representative from CraftWorks Holdings Inc. clarified that Gordon Biersch Brewing Company, based in San Jose, is not affiliated with CraftWorks Holdings Inc. or impacted by the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The brewing company is also separate from Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants. The story has been updated with quotes throughout.

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The parent company behind Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, Rock Bottom and other restaurant chains has fired 18,000 employees this week.

On Tuesday, CraftWorks Holdings Inc., based in Nashville, Tenn., informed its staff that every team member would be terminated and that they would also lose their healthcare benefits.

"Effective March 31, 2020, the status of all team members will be revised from furloughed to terminated," Marc Buehler, CEO of CraftWorks Holdings, wrote in the email obtained by Westword. "You will receive additional communication from our third-party administrator regarding your benefit selections and how you can handle this transition."

In the email, Buehler added that the company would work toward reopening in the future with the hope to bring back many of the employees.

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"We’re heartbroken and devastated," Josh Kern, chief marketing officer for CraftWorks Holdings, told SFGATE. "We never thought it would come to this. I’ve heard the gamut from folks who've worked at the restaurants for 20-plus years. People are anxious."

The termination of CraftWorks Holdings employees comes at a time when shelter-in-place orders have rattled the economy and affected employees of all industries. Macy's, Kohl's and Gap announced plans to furlough thousands of employees on Monday, among others.

In early March, CraftWorks Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed 37 of its poorest-performing restaurants, according to Nation’s Restaurant News.

"We are now looking forward to completing an expedited process that we are confident puts our business on solid financial footing for the future," Hazem Ouf, former CEO of CraftWorks Holdings Inc., said in a statement at the time of the filing.

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But by the end of March, Buehler had become CEO of the company in a tumultuous time when hundreds of CraftWorks Holdings restaurants were being temporarily closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus. As a result, dozens of employees were furloughed, Nation’s Restaurant News reported.

Kern said that it was difficult for CraftWorks to be financially stable with the number of cooks it had, among other staff. He added that the delivery model that most restaurants are switching to during shelter-in-place wasn’t enough to sustain the company.

"We’re preserving as much as we can and hopefully we can reopen," Kern said.

CraftWorks Holdings has 338 restaurants, brewery restaurants and entertainment locations throughout the United States. Its brands include Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, Rock Bottom and Logan’s Roadhouse, which all have California locations. Those businesses could not be reached for comment.

Susana Guerrero is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email: Susana.Guerrero@sfgate.com | Twitter: @SusyGuerrero3

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