KNOXVILLE (WATE) – A longtime restaurant in West Knoxville has closed its doors for good leaving their employees shocked.

Owners of the Bailey’s Sports Grille, located at 250 N Seven Oaks Dr., confirmed said they closed permanently on Friday, but didn’t give a reason as to why they closed. Employees at the restaurant said they were frustrated they weren’t given proper notice from their employer that the restaurant was closing.

Ronnie Maples, a server at Bailey’s Sports Grille, said he went into work Friday, thinking it was another day on the job. He said at 8:30 p.m. he was told the restaurant was closing permanently in 90 minutes.

“Just to drop it on us with no warning, it’s rough,” Ronnie Maples, “We showed up. It was a normal shift and halfway in their shift they brought us outside and told us hey, we’re closing down. You don’t have a job.”

Haley Pokorny, who is also a server at Bailey’s Sports Grille, said the closing could not have come at a worse time. She said she is several months pregnant and depended on Bailey’s to pay the bills.

“My due date is Christmas Eve so it’s coming up pretty soon, so we have to get everything for him and it’s pretty stressful to lose your job, especially at a time like this,” Pokorny said.

Jennifer Dennis, a mother of three small children and one of Bailey’s longest-serving employees, was not working the night of the closing. She said she was never even given a courtesy call and learned about the news on Facebook.

“They should at least have a little respect for their employees,” Dennis said. “They should at least care about their employees, because their employees cared enough to do a good job for them.”

Dennis said the company had told its employees about its financial troubles after the company filed for bankruptcy, but she was told her job would not be jeopardy. She said she received a letter on August 10 saying no stores were closing and employees still had their jobs, but eighteen days later Bailey’s Sports Grille closed their doors for good.

The parent company of Bailey’s Sports Grille issued a statement late Monday saying: “The closure is part of a restructuring effort for the company as it works through its recent Chapter 11 filing. It allows them to focus on their strongest locations and markets. The decision to close some locations just came late last week in the midst of the Chapter 11 court proceedings.”