No surprise. I don’t live in Hawaii, but similar stuff happens in my town. We don’t go out much any more. Just too expensive.
Many restaurants let their employees know they are closed permanently by having the doors locked or chained when the employees come to work. No notice at all. Don’t want the risk of the employees stealing things I guess or just not showing up if they were told ahead of time of a defined closing date.
Guess who was going to Outback in the next few days. Our Outback (Kona) closed with what I believe was 1 days notice. I wonder how much advance the Managers had (I assume this is all one Franchisee). I first thought about steaks in the store awaiting customers and if there was a ‘fire sale’.
Our Outback was reasonably priced and a pretty good deal compared to what I can buy sandwiches or fast food. I am very sorry to see it closed.
Managers got more notice I would imagine, but most staff at restaurants probably would show up if they had advance warning and mostly would steal and then not give hod service. Corporately, it probably makes sense. I would hope there was some bonuses for them, but who knows. When you have the government getting involved in your business and telling you how much to pay people, it’s self preservation over public sentiment.