Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Heinemann's?

No more Heinie's.

If you read the story, there's a lot that's not said.

Byron and Dorothy Heinemann founded their namesake restaurant in 1923. Heinemann's operated as many as 11 locations during its peak years.

Heinemann's is paying its employees, the statement said, but lenders will take possession of the company's assets. After the lenders are paid, the company's creditors will be paid their debts from any remaining assets.

Some pundits want to blame the 'sick time ordinance.' That doesn't wash, given the "lenders will take possession" line. The problem of the ordinance is at least 1 year away. The banks got nervous following the year-end statements of 2008.

Looks more like a profits problem, which could be related to the somewhat awful pre-packaged breads they were trying to sell. And yes, their crowd was definitely skewed "old."

4 comments:

steveegg said...

Actually, it took effect when it was published sometime prior to 11/15/2008 (see Wis. Stat. 9.20(7) and Part 3 of the sick-leave ordnance), with full implementation ordered by 90 days after that point (or no later than 2/12/2009). Further, collection and use of the sick leav...er, vacation pay can begin immediately for employees on the payroll for at least 90 days (see Chapter 112-5 of the Milwaukee code), and the first hour is accrued after 30 hours of work.

Anonymous said...

C'mon - some of the best food is at the places that skew old.

I'd have taken a Turkey burger on Welsh bread at Heinemann's over anything at Chili's or Applebee's in a heartbeat.

JJ

Dad29 said...

Steve: unless there's an injunction--which I think there will be.

JJ, you eat strange stuff, but I wouldn't eat at Applebee's, either.

GOR said...

I maintain the road downhill began when they banned smoking. I haven't eaten there since. Now if George Webb's bans smoking (as the current owner has intimated), watch out...