Friday, February 26, 2016

Ovations Brands AKA Food Management Partners Is At It AGAIN!

I am sorry to interrupt our series on the Top Buffets of 2015, but this is just too major to not report on right now. I was recently informed by one of our readers "in the know" that a Fire Mountain Buffet (one of the Ovation Brands/OCB buffets) was recently closed in Chippewa Township, PA. It seemed to me that perhaps this was a random closing until just searching for our favorite Ryan's Buffet in Fredericksburg, Virginia. We looked at the Ryan's locations listings as we wanted to sign up at that location for Ryan's coupons through the "Crave Connection" club. When I searched the locations, no location came up for Fredericksburg. We have been there many times and as recently as August. It was then that I started to realize that Corporate is on the rampage again - and sure enough, I confirmed that the Fredericksburg, VA Ryans was closed.

I started to do a little more digging and not only were these two buffet restaurants closed but 74 buffets including Old Country Buffet, Hometown Buffet, Ryan’s, Fire Mountain and Country Buffet restaurants. This was reported on February 4, 2016 so this happened just prior. I was told that the closings were done in typical Ovation Brands fashion - employees and management arrived for work to find the doors locked shut and were told by Corporate representatives that they no longer worked there. Goodbye, farewell, no notice, you are gone! This is exactly what happened in 2008 and then again in 2011 and still again in 2012 when Ovation Brands, then called Buffets, Inc. went across the country closing buffet restaurants. This past August, 2015 Ovation Brands was bought by Food Management Partners and it was speculated as to what they would do with the chain of buffets that they acquired - all of the Old Country Buffet, Hometown Buffet, Ryan’s, Fire Mountain and Country Buffet restaurants. Well now we know. 

Quoting from The Free Lance Star - Fredericksburg.com -  “Since that time, we have continued to execute former management’s operating plan to stabilize and enhance the performance of the company,” Peter Donbavand, Ovation Brands’ vice president of business development said in a news release. “However, based on ongoing assessments of individual restaurants, it is necessary to shutter locations for the continued viability of the brands and our employees.”  He goes on to say that they will continue to operate the remaining buffets that they acquired as they are "financially viable".  From the same source he is also quoted as saying, “We know that these decisions are not easy, however, we strongly believe that this direction is best for the long-term health of all brands.”

There is indication that when Food Management Partners took over they cut salaries and benefits of both restaurant managers and employees. These guys came in with a heavy fist.

The Ryan's in Fredericksburg, VA was a favorite of ours. It was a must stop when going through that area - on the way south and then again when on the way back north. If I had to say what was the best Ryans we have ever been to it would be the Fredericksburg Ryans. It was a Ryans that maintained many of the featured entrees from the original Ryans menu and while it has to incorporate many of the dishes from OCB after the so-called merge of the chains, it kept serving Ryan's favorites. It had the best grill of any Ryans that we have ever been to - with people at the grill cooking who knew what they were doing. Ask for a steak rare - and if they did not have one they put a steak on and cooked it for you - with an apology that it would take several minutes. And then when it was done the person behind the grill would come out to your table with the steak on a plate and hand it to you. No other Ryans ever came close to that in our experience. We were so disheartened when we learned that it was closed. Table staff were good as well - as was management. We went into Ryans this past August with a Crave Connection email coupon. The cashier looked at the coupon and was confused - as it was offering dinner at a price higher than what they charged. She called over the management and we explained that the coupon came from out of Virginia. Not a problem - he took their current price and discounted it to the same percentage as the coupon would have come to had we used it at home. All with a smile. This specific restaurant will be sorely missed.  If they were not doing well, it can not be due to location - they were located in the middle of a major shopping center, and it cannot be due to competition - there is no OCB for many miles and the only other buffet chain - but not that close - is Golden Corral. As I have witnessed, Corporate seems to push these restaurants to the point that they cannot maintain adequate staffing which ultimately results in poor customer service and satisfaction - plus they push the OCB menu on the other restaurants that is not at all as good as, for example, the original Ryan's menu was.  Heck, they do this with OCBs as well!

Our condolences go out to all of the employees and managers who have lost their jobs. I am so sorry to learn that this has happened to all of you by this corporation once again. We invite any employee or manager who would like to leave a comment about what happened at your location and what went down that day that they showed up to tell you to go home (please be as civil as possible as we will not print anything that is defaming or vulgar - and I know that this is how you are all feeling right now).

Now I am off to find out what other Ryans that we have gone to are now gone too.

Top Buffets of 2015 will continue with the next article.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The best Ryan's I have ever been to is the one in Princeton, West Virginia right off I-77 near the WV/VA border. I checked and fortunately it is still open. I stop when I make my yearly drive from Florida to Ohio and back. The friendliest staff and best food and it sounds exactly as the one you described. At this point I am nervous that at some point the whole set of brands will be gone.

Anonymous said...

Another thing I always wonder - what happens with what I assume is several days worth of food already in storage and ready to be cooked and prepared at these restaurants? It makes me sick to think it is all discarded.

Nancy said...

Our local Ryan's in Bluefield Virginia closed suddenly. Everyone was surprised the way it was handled but I wasn't since I had read in years past on here how they handle the closing. We went to this Ryan's back in November and saw first hand how the food had gone down hill so we didn't go back. The commenter above commented on the Ryans in Princeton West Virginia. That will be our closest Ryan's which will be a 30 mile round trip. Don't know if we would make that trip since we were so disappointed in the quality of the food last November. It will probably remain open since it is located right off of the interstate.

Oh, I heard that some of the employees from Ryans in Princeton West Virginia came to our local Ryans and picked up the food and kitchen supplies the same day it closed.

Anonymous said...

get ready to call and check to see if your favorite is still open. Round two is hitting Sunday morning 3/6 as they are closing 80 more stores. Why on a Sunday? avoiding something perhaps? This will leave 150 total in the whole company.

Anonymous said...

Yeah... here we go again... http://wnep.com/2016/03/06/old-country-buffet-restaurants-in-lackawanna-luzerne-counties-close-without-warning/

Sadly at this point I say we will eventually see the permanent closure of all locations. Which is a shame. A good OCB/Ryans blows Golden Corral out of the water, IMO. I know they are few and far between, but when you find one, they are the best. I feel for the employees and the communities.

Writer said...

As you can see from the comment just above the last, 80 restaurants were closed on Sunday, March 7, 2016! As we get details on more locations we will post them. Thanks for the link to the OCBs in Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties. How sad!

Anonymous said...

Bankruptcy filing today. More bloodletting (I mean closures) coming soon.

ML said...

What a shame OCB started great in Levittown and kept sliding to the point we haven't been there in years

Writer said...

A reader sent this link to us today -

http://www.ydr.com/story/money/business/2016/03/07/old-country-buffet-owner-files-bankruptcy/81442514/

Writer said...

The Levittown, NY Old Country Buffet has been closed. There is a sign on the door that says "Closed. Go to Bay Shore." The Bay Shore OCB is about twenty miles away east out onto Long Island in Suffolk. The levittown OCB in Nassau County brought customers from Queens and Brooklyn. Those customers are certainly not going to travel to Bay Shore. Bay Shore is open - at least for the moment. I am now convinced that the new owners of the Ovation group of buffets intend to close every location. They certainly have done nothing to bring customers into any of the locations with continual employee cuts to the point that the restaurants cannot properly operate to the lack of changes to the menu back to what made OCB popular from the start. While the Levittown OCB had a decent manager, the corporation was not making it easy for them. Our last review of that OCB was not good - but we have been back since and there had been improvement - again - but it was clear that they were struggling with what they were being told was to be served and the lack of employees needed to enable the restaurant to run properly. We are actually very sorry to see it go - and we feel very badly for the people who worked there, including the manager who tried very hard to keep this going right. I am hoping that this manager was transferred back to Bay Shore where he began as since he left Bay Shore, that location started going downhill. We shall see with visits in the coming weeks and months.