James Berke said the first clue he was unemployed was when he checked his scheduling application and saw nothing other than a notice that his Red Lobster location was closed.
Berke had worked for the chain at their Ledgewood, New Jersey, location for three years, and said he initially thought it was the latest in a series of power outages that forced temporary stops.
He said employee relations didn’t know anything about his store, so he called his general manager.
“My general manager confirmed no, we are closed for real, like forever,” Berke recalls. “She had just found out that day too.”
Read: Multiple Orlando Red Lobster locations listed as ‘temporarily closed’
The Berke location is one of more than 50 sites currently being auctioned off by liquidator TagEx Brands. Each location, including those in Altamonte Springs and Sand Lake Road, is a winning buy, according to founder Neal Sherman. He said all items had to be removed by Friday.
“Our goal with online auctions is to prevent high-quality items from being thrown into landfills, but rather to promote their sustainable reuse,” he said. “This approach economically benefits the original owners, promotes reuse and offers buyers reduced prices.”
Nationally, the number of closures was closer to 120, according to a Facebook post from the mayor of Danville, Illinois.
Read: Red lobster torment: what you need to know
WFTV saw equipment and furniture being hauled out of the West Colonial Drive location in Orange County, which was closed but not listed for auction.
Red Lobster did not say why it closed the stores. Berke said his location was among the top-performing Red Lobsters last year.
However, like many analysts, he blamed the countless shrimp dishes on the chain’s menu for dealing a near-fatal blow to the already struggling chain.
Read: Report: Red Lobster plans to file for bankruptcy (Chapter 11)
“We were hitting all our profit goals, and then we added the shrimp,” Berke said. “We knew we were losing money last year. So why would they keep it for six or seven months at such a low price that no restaurant can make money? »
That wasn’t the only question Berke asked the Orlando office. As Red Lobster put a face of the status quo online, he wanted to know why business leaders thought it was OK to block their workers after calling them all out for Mother’s Day.
Some of his co-workers, he said, had worked at the store for 20 years and didn’t know how they were going to make rent or pay their bills this month.
“It’s basically throwing them out on the street to find out what they’re going to do for a living,” he commented. “It’s really disappointing.”
WFTV reached out to Red Lobster for comment but did not receive a response.
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