The Olive Garden restaurant in Biddeford shut its doors Friday night, leaving 60 employees suddenly out of their jobs.
Hunter Robinson, communications manager for the Olive Garden chain, said Friday was the last day of business at the restaurant on Shops Way. By 11:15 a.m. Saturday, a message on the restaurant’s phone number notified callers it is “permanently closed.” The management team notified workers Saturday morning that Olive Garden did not renew its lease in the building.
“It’s definitely not just Olive Garden,” Robinson said Saturday. “It’s restaurant industry standard to let them know the day of. We’re meeting with the team members this morning.”
During those meetings, Robinson said the company would try to place every employee at one of its three other restaurants in an 8-mile radius – an Olive Garden and two LongHorn Steakhouse locations. Those who couldn’t find or declined a placement would receive a severance package, he said.
“The one thing about our scale that is really helpful when we do unfortunately make (a) decision like this, they can be at work as soon as tomorrow at another position,” Robinson said.
Robinson said he wasn’t aware of any health or safety code violations at the Biddeford location, and he called the closure “a business decision.”
If the Biddeford location were underperforming, it would go against the nationwide trend for Olive Garden. According to the latest annual report from parent company Darden Restaurants, Olive Garden reported $3.8 billion in sales in fiscal year 2016 – a 3 percent increase of same-restaurant sales over the previous year and more than double the overall sales at the company’s other chains. In addition to the Italian-style eatery, Darden Restaurants owns LongHorn Steakhouse, Yard House, The Capital Grille, and Bahama Breeze restaurants.
For 2017, the company expects continued same-restaurant sales growth, as well as opening six to eight new Olive Garden locations.
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