RESTAURANT STRUGGLES: Trouble signs mount for Logan’s Roadhouse

Chain that operates 2 Dayton-area locations terminates all of its employees amid bankruptcy protection, shakeup at the top
The parent company of Logan's Roadhouse has filed for bankruptcy protection and terminated its employees. FILE PHOTO

The parent company of Logan's Roadhouse has filed for bankruptcy protection and terminated its employees. FILE PHOTO
What to Know
By Mark Fisher
April 3, 2020
X

The parent company of Logan’s Roadhouse — which operates two large Dayton-area restaurants in Troy and Miami Twp. east of the  Dayton Mall — has notified its furloughed employees that they have all been terminated, and its top two executives, its CEO and CFO, have been forced to step down as the chain seeks to navigate a bankruptcy protection filing and the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

>> ALSO NEW TODAY: Dayton Mall launches drive for donations of food, essential items for those in need

CraftWorks Holdings, corporate owner of Logan's Roadhouse since 2018, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early March, before the wave of COVID-19 illnesses caused by the coronavirus began to sweep across the country. CraftWorks officials subsequently alerted a federal bankruptcy judge in Delaware that they could not secure funds to keep the company's restaurants even partially open, and would have to shut down every location, although they left the door cracked to reopening the restaurants at a later date, according to RestaurantBusinessOnline, a web site that covers the restaurant industry.

>> ALSO NEW TODAY: PHOTOS: Spring in the time of social distancing

Then earlier this week, the company informed its furloughed employees they were being terminated, which also meant the workers’ health-care benefits ended as of March 31, RestaurantBusinessOnline said. The two top executives of the parent company were dismissed after the company passed along $7 million in sales taxes to states where the company’s restaurants operated without prior approval from court-appointed bankruptcy officials, according to RestaurantBusinessOnline.

>> Which Dayton-area restaurants are offering carryout, delivery and curbside service?

A previous corporate owner of Logan’s Roadhouse filed for reorganization bankruptcy in 2016, and in the fall of that year, as the company was gearing up to emerge from bankruptcy, it shut down its Beavercreek location that had been open since 2006 at 2819 Centre Drive near the Mall at Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek. The closure affected between 60 and 80 employees.

At the time, a spokesman for Logan’s Roadhouse said the restaurant chain’s Troy and Miamisburg-Centerville Road locations would remain open, which they have until last month, when state officials ordered a halt to all dine-in service at restaurants on March 15. A stay-at-home order followed a week later.

>> ALSO NEW TODAY: Local winery, distillery to turn excess wine into hand sanitizer

When the Miami Twp. Logan’s Roadhouse opened in 2010, a spokeswoman for the chain told the Dayton Daily News that it would employ about 130 and seat 237.

Another large national restaurant chain, Ruby Tuesday, shut down one of its Dayton-area locations last week after a 14-year run on Far Hills Avenue in Washington Twp.

In Other News
1
Day Yoga adds third location with new studio in Washington Twp.
2
Friday the 13th: What is so unlucky about it?
3
Happy birthday Dorothy Lane Market! What to know about its history
4
Graeter’s celebrates 154th birthday with special offer
5
Dayton-area festivals to check out throughout May

About the Author

Mark Fisher, a 1981 graduate of Ohio State University and a 1976 graduate of Beavercreek High School, is a third-generation Dayton-area resident who has worked for the Dayton Daily News since 1983. He covered higher education and K-12 education accountability issues for nearly 20 years before taking over the food and dining beat in 2006.