Restaurant chain Max & Erma's is closing 13 Midwest locations as it streamlines operations and deals with underperforming outlets.
The owner, Nashville, Tennessee-based American Blue Ribbon Holdings, says senior managers went to the restaurants in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana on Monday morning to deliver the news.
The company issued this statement to newsnet5.com:
As American Blue Ribbon Holdings continues to optimize the Max & Erma’s brand, we are in the process of streamlining operations and underperforming locations. In the first stage of this process, we have identified 13 locations in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana that will be closed on January 18, 2016. A member of our Sr. Leadership team was at each restaurant this morning to personally deliver this news and to provide each and every team member with a severance agreement. We felt that the best way to handle this news was to deliver the news in person. This ensured that each employee was dealt with individually and in person. The team members are currently working to efficiently close down their restaurants and will be donating unopened food items to charitable organizations in their community. We enjoyed serving our loyal guests in these restaurants over the years and look forward to serving them in our other locations. We are committed to the Max & Erma’s brand and our franchise community, and anticipate announcing the next phase of this brand revitalization during the week of January 25th.
The Ohio restaurants in Belden Village, Westlake and Sylvania were affected by the closures.
The chain's website listed 51 locations in 10 states.
The restaurants serve burgers and beer. The first one opened in 1972 in Columbus, Ohio. The chain filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009. American Blue Ribbon bought it the next year.
The parent company also owns O'Charley's and other casual-dining chains.
