A Nashville-based restaurant company that operates Logan's Roadhouse and other casual eateries has laid off nearly all of its 18,000 employees and shuttered its corporate locations.

CraftWorks Holdings LLC plans to cut its remaining expenses "to the bare minimum," according to court documents filed last week, in hopes of preserving "as much value as possible" to reopen restaurants in the future.

The company laid off most of its 18,000 employees in response to the COVID-19 crisis, according to the court documents, keeping a skeleton crew of less than 25 people.

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early March in anticipation of a debt-reducing deal with its senior lender. It originally planned to continue operating its 261 corporate locations, but began to close restaurant doors and furlough workers as the brunt of the COVID-19 crisis hit the restaurant industry.

CraftWorks Holdings, which also owns Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom, Big River Breweries Inc., and Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Group Inc., closed 37 "underperforming locations" prior to filing bankruptcy.

A company spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.

CraftWorks announced the decision to employees Tuesday in an internal memo, leaving thousands of its workers without benefits and health insurance, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Logan's Roadhouse, a Nashville-based casual steakhouse chain, announced the temporary closure of all of its corporate restaurants on its website on March 18, citing challenges posed by the pandemic.

"It's hard, and it's heartbreaking for the thousands of our heroes, our team members," the statement reads. "Once this is all over, we'd love to invite y'all to kick back at our house, have an incredible hand-cut steak, an ice-cold beer, and enjoy the fellowship of our community."

The Logan's Roadhouse website lists its 16 Tennessee locations as "temporarily closed."

The casual steakhouse chain filed for bankruptcy in 2016, closing 18 of its restaurants and launching a company-wide reorganization effort. CraftWorks Holdings purchased Logan's Roadhouse in Nov. 2018.

Some of CraftWorks Holdings' 77 franchise-owned locations, including some Logan's Roadhouse restaurants, remain open.

In early March, former CraftWorks Holdings CEO Hazem Ouf said that the company's first quarter was "off to a solid start" and it had "made significant progress on many fronts to transform our business and position our brands for long-term growth and success."

That progress was halted by the "unexpected and unforeseen" pandemic, the company told the court.

CraftWorks Holdings owes between $100 million and $500 million to an estimated 1,000 to 5,000 creditors, according to court filings.

Reach Cassandra Stephenson at ckstephens@jacksonsun.com or at (731) 694-7261. Follow Cassandra on Twitter at @CStephenson731.