Despite feeding upwards of 4,000 mouths a month, The Works Gourmet Burger Bistro (5431 Doyle Street) announced yesterday that its grills were off for good.
“We were forced to close due to a lack of support by the brand,” says Alan Garner, who managed first Atlantic Canadian location of the Canadian franchise alongside his wife Jody. “We brought the brand national and they, for the most part, left us alone.”
Garner says he and Jody didn’t receive the assistance they needed from The Works’ head office in Ontario when it came to design and construction issues as well as advertising.
“The burger is amazing, it’s an amazing concept, it’s great food that’s all fresh…but there was no sense of urgency, no leadership, no marketing,” says Garner. He got the final word of his restaurant’s fate on Friday. “We offered the company to take over for us and keep the restaurant open, and they said no.”
The Garners gathered their staff together yesterday to break the news, deliver pay cheques and have one last meal together. “The way we exited yesterday was as graceful as we possibly could,” says Garner. “It was a hardworking team and we were supported by them. We always said they worked with us, not for us.”
The Works first opened on February 22, making yesterday its eight month anniversary.
Updated Friday, October 25
The plot thickened yesterday when The Coast received the following statement from The Works’ head office.
The WORKS, the full-service gourmet burger bistro chain, learned at the same time as its guests yesterday of the closing of its franchised-operated location in Halifax.
“We were extremely surprised to learn about the closing of our Halifax location,” said Andy O’Brien, president and CEO of The WORKS. “We love the Halifax market and wholeheartedly want to continue feeding Haligonians. The decision to close was not ours and we want our guests to know that it’s our intention to reopen for business as soon as possible with our great local Halifax team.”
The WORKS Halifax, located at 5431 Doyle Street, opened earlier this year and had gained popularity, reaching very respectable sales figures and a loyal customer base.
The company is devoting its full attention to this sudden closing.
The Garners were just as surprised to hear of this response from head office, reiterating that the choice to close wasn’t rash on their part.
“We had been asking for assistance for months in the form of marketing of the brand and construction repairs to offset the high operating costs. In the last few weeks of operations we advised that our priority was our guests and our employees,” said the Garners via email. “The only way they would help was if we signed away our legal recourse to hold them accountable for their construction blunders. We then offered them the store at a price that was over a quarter million less (than our personal investment) if they would keep the store open and rescue our 30 staff/family from unemployment.”
After giving the company one week to respond, the Garners say O’Brien called last Friday night too reject the offer.
“Our sales were well below brand average here in Halifax, and there are several other stores WELL below us. The Works reported that average sales are $1,575,000. We were on track to make less than a million,” said the Garners. “For months we personally funded the restaurant to keep us afloat….We made the business decision to close as we quite simply couldn’t afford to continue to fund a brand that wouldn’t help fund itself.”
Updated Sunday, October 27
And it looks like The Works’ head office has officially re-opened the restaurant. A release states that the restaurant is operating with its existing local staff.
This article appears in Oct 17-23, 2013.
A real shame. This was one of the better gourmet burger joints in town.
“Ask not for whom the squirrel barks; it barks for thee.”
Boo! This is terrible 🙁
Not surprised. I worked for The Works and witnessed ‘…no leadership…’ on a daily basis. The owners care about one thing and one thing only-selling franchises. Once they get the contract signed, franchisees are SOL. It’s happening to franchisees all around Toronto. And to Ivan, I wish you could’ve experienced a Works burger before the business got sold to its current owners. THAT was a great gourmet burger. The corners that have been cut in the name of corporate efficiency have really turned the product into a pale imitation of what it once was.
I’ve eaten at The Works here in Ottawa, and I’ve never been impressed. It’s sad to hear the company couldn’t support this Halifax location, but really, who needs a badly operated (not a comment on franchise owner, of whom I know nothing) restaurant in town? When I moved to Ottawa, everyone told me I ‘had to eat’ at The Works, and like I said, no wow factor. The hamburger itself is always bland.
I still prefer burgers from Darrell’s, keep it local people!! 🙂
I’m a current employee of the Works and I’ve witnessed firsthand the downward spiral the company has been on since the new owners took over. I’m not at all surprised that the Halifax location didn’t survive, given the corporate climate that’s taken hold of the organization. The brand is being poorly managed and badly exploited instead of being grown slowly and sustainably as it had been until the switch in ownership. Selling franchises for quick cash to placate investors seems to be the order of the day, while proper planning, forethought and support has clearly fallen by the wayside. Many of the upper management folks whose hard work and years of experience helped make the Works into a brand worth buying have jumped ship, mostly out of frustration with the current people at the helm.
I hope that ownership at some point realizes that their current practices are killing the company and take firm, positive steps to right the ship for the sake of what the Works used to be. Otherwise, the Halifax closure is just a harbinger of things to come for the rest of us.
The local people were excellent.
The menu was just plain stupid!!
You had to read a book to try and figure out what came close to what you wanted.
The Head Office made the money and the naïve local people paid the price.
I feel really bad for them and they were given the “bait and switch” from Ontario.
It is a burger joint, start your own like Cheese Curds or Flipburger.
I think Relish will be next.
Wow, what a shame. I’m a native east coaster living in Ottawa and can’t believe how much this once successful company seems to have deteriorated. I was always such a fan of the works, however, I lost interest when it changed ownership a couple of years back. Without Mr. Aimers’ dedication, it just didn’t have the same atmosphere or vitality that it once did; what was once fresh and trendy now felt stale and contrived. Since franchises kept popping up everywhere, I figured my opinions were the minority but it appears my sentiments were shared by more than I thought. It’s sad to read that the first casualties are back home.
I don’t buy head office’s faux surprise and empathy for the staff. They realize the PR disaster bad press like the article above represents. It may make potential franchisees wary, and shareholders upset. As it should!!!
Alan and Jody bought the Works as a retirement investment and were not willing to put the work in… head-office would send someone down to help them and it would run fine. but as soon as they left, things would go to pot…. they mean well but when the rubber hit the road they werent willing to put in the work. I say this as a former employee, not to crap on them but as a native nova scotian we have a tendency to blame ontario – this was not the case.
I’ve been to The Works a handful of times and on two occasions they had informed me that they had forgotten to put my order in after waiting upwards of a half hour for my meal. However, on both occasions, they paid for my meal so I really can’t complain. While I’d rather get my meal on time and happily pay for it, they admitted fault and paid for it when most probably wouldn’t do so.
Sad to see the controversy surrounding this establishment. One of the better places in Halifax to grab a burger.
Not the best, mind you. That still belongs to the Old School Cheeseburger at 2 Doors Down. 🙂
Lets hope this is a wake up call for the Ontario Franchise . Bad publicity can kill your brand.
And the Halifax Franchisees , good call bringing this to a head, but you have money invested, make this work! If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
You don’t get many second chances. Good luck.
Looking over their menu/catalog, do they have a burger with, say, toasted sesame bun/grilled beef/lettuce/tomato/mustard/relish and maybe a side of fries? ’cause thats all I really want. This place seems like a WTF moment. Gus’s is what I think I will stick with for now.
How many pieces of flair are the waitstaff sporting here? That is very important to my dining experience. ha ha, I kid.
For those of you who may have missed my previous posts, in the interest of full disclosure I am a former employee of The Works, having started with the company in Ottawa before it was bought by it’s current owners several years ago.
Re-opening with local staff?!? That won’t last long. They put an ad looking for front and back of house staff THE DAY they re-opened. Any staff hired under the former owners, I suggest you start looking now. The MO is to clean house.
While optics are good-Head Office swooping in to save the day-imho, it’s too little too late. The brand is damaged goods. Another franchise is closing in Ontario and the ones that do open are lucky if they get more than two stars on yelp, urban spoon, trip adviser, etc…as soon as the few people that still go realize that there are burger places with FAR better quality and much more reasonable prices, you’ll see more and more locations close their doors and fewer potential franchisees inquiring…
My family went to the Waterloo location in Ontario and loved it! They serve a fresh perspective on burgers! Dining is fun when you get to try something new and have an ‘experience’. We were so pumped to hear there was a location in Halifax and will look forward to stepping in and trying the product on the maritime soil! Just on the record saying that we loved our experience at the works location in Ontario! Don’t shy away because of bad publicity and possible staffing issues.
The WORKS Gourmet Burger Bistro is a complete and total scam! It should be investigated by every single governing party there is – and shut down. Of course, the franchisees who have invested millions of dollars should be reimbursed first! Appalling brand from head to toe – blind leading the blind at best. Cowards, liars and con-artists. Too bad, the burgers were amazing and the company could really have made a difference. These people should be ashamed of themselves!