Restaurant chain Bennigan's has had to lay off or furlough up to 70 percent of its staff because of the coronavirus crisis, and Paul Mangiamele, Bennigan's chairman and CEO, told Cheddar Thursday that the decision was 'heartbreaking.'
"We've been around 44 years now… we've been hit hard," Mangiamele said. "In fact, we got sucker punched."
Bennigan's has kept necessary cooking staff and other positions so the casual dining chain can pivot operations amid stay-at-home orders around the country.
"The spirit and the iconic nature of our brand has created this ingenious way of operating now," Mangiamele said. "We're a grocery store, we're doing adult cocktails, we're doing carry-out and delivery."
During the Great Recession, Bennigan's had to file for bankruptcy and close all 150 of its corporate-owned restaurants. Its count of 138 franchises dwindled down to the 15 U.S. locations remaining today.
Mangiamele, along with his wife, purchased the chain in 2015.
"We're a resilient species. We're a resilient brand," Mangiamele said. "If we can come through a Chapter 7 [bankruptcy], we're certainly going to come through this pandemic."
TikTok once again finds itself in a precarious position as lawmakers in Washington move forward with a bill that could lead to a nationwide ban on the platform.
Bryan West, Gannett’s Taylor Swift reporter, recaps the many, many, theories and Easter eggs Swifties are debating as her ‘Eras Tour’ film comes to Disney+.
‘Our Biggest Fight’ author and Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt, Jr. explains his problem with the internet – and why this Tiktok bill is just a starting point.
Consumer prices in the United States picked up last month, a sign that inflation remains a persistent challenge for the Federal Reserve and for President Biden.
Jayesh Govindarajan, head of A.I. at Salesforce, explains the company's new Einstein copilot, plus other ways it is investing in artificial intelligence.
Altro founder and CEO Michael Broughton shares how his company is bringing both expanded credit access and financial wellness to underserved consumers, plus netting early investments from Tinashe, Quavo, and Jay Z’s Marcy Ventures.
Portillo’s CEO Michael Osanloo discusses the company’s decades of profitability, opening restaurants in new markets, and why it doesn’t need trends like dynamic pricing.
