In the past few weeks, two Carbondale restaurants were suddenly closed, Freddy’s and Fazoli’s. The parent company that owned Fazoli’s, Fat Brands, and M&M Custard, a franchisee of Freddy’s, both filed for bankruptcy which led to their closures.

M&M Custard, a franchisee of Freddy’s, filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 last November, which allows the company to remain in operation and reorganize their finances with the oversight of the creditors of the debt and the court. 

“This difficult decision was made solely by the franchise owner after careful consideration of their business circumstances,” Freddy’s public relations manager Kim Hunyh wrote in an email. “We’re grateful for the community’s support and for the dedicated team members who served them.”

Sebastian Gonzalez, an employee at the Carbondale Freddy’s location said that co-workers told him that the establishment just wasn’t getting enough business from customers.

“I wouldn’t say we all saw it coming but the hints toward it were that we were running out of stuff and it kinda like got in our heads,” Gonzalez said. 

With not much time left this semester, Gonzalez, an SIU student, doesn’t see a point in trying to get a new job before leaving for the summer.

Fat Brands, the Fazoli’s parent company, filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 in January.

“We all got a letter in the mail saying Fat Brands went bankrupt, but we did not know the severity of it,” Shannon Sparks, the assistant manager at the shuttered Carbondale Fazoli’s location, said. The letter came about a month before the restaurant closed, according to another employee.

“We didn’t have any idea we were closing,” Sparks said. “They just closed the lower-profiting stores. It was us in Carbondale and then one in Indiana.”

Sparks said there were clues the closure was coming the day before the company announced it. 

“Me and my general manager, the night before, we had realized that he got called in for a meeting and he was like, ‘in 19 years, this has never happened,’” Sparks said. “Then, we got online and we realized our catering orders were shut off.

“This was just 8 hours before we were actually told. That’s when it clicked with me and him and we just had this gut feeling like: they’re going to shut us down tomorrow,” Sparks said.

Some of the employees weren’t surprised at the closure. Alex Waite, a former Fazoli’s employee, said most of the time that he worked there, it was usually barren of any customers. 

Waite, also an SIU student, said the impact of losing his job didn’t hit him as hard as others because his parents were able to support him.

“It luckily doesn’t affect me too badly,” Waite said. “But I can’t say the same about all my coworkers.”

Sparks had worked at this location for four years. It was her main source of income with three girls at home.

“This job was my safety, my security,” she said. “I actually loved my job there. I had the shifts that I wanted. We had a good team. I don’t have anything really bad to say about the company besides, of course, some warning would have been nice.”

Sparks said that most employees were given severance pay, depending on how long they were employed at the location. 

“It’s definitely devastating,” Sparks said. “I can’t even tell you what I did for the first two days because I was in shock of what was happening.”

For some employees, transfer to the Marion location was an option, but the majority of them were just laid off.

Sparks and Waite were among the many that couldn’t just transfer to another location.

“It’s obviously very scary because there’s not a lot of places. I don’t drive — so there’s not a lot of places in Carbondale that are hiring people like that,” Sparks said. “Looking for a new job and knowing Carbondale, there’s not a lot of options anymore.”

The Daily Egyptian reached out to Fazoli’s and the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce. They did not respond to emails seeking comment.

“It was nothing to do with the employees. It was definitely a corporate decision,” Sparks said.

News Reporter Orion Wolf can be reached at [email protected] or orionwolf6 on Instagram

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