Round Table Pizza shows how not to do business

Round Table Pizza still has jobs listed in Boise. However for employees of the west-coast pizza chain the unemployment notice came in the form of a note posted on locked doors.

While I can understand businesses choosing to change directions and models this way of doing business deserves to have major repercussions for Round Table Pizza. Imagine for a moment if it were your rent check that was due on Monday and you found out on Thursday that you're out of a job. A couple of times a year we would frequent Round Table but not any longer. The unethical business practice of giving employees no notice that they are out of a job is just inexcusable. There are at times unfortunate situations where companies go dark overnight but those are associated with really and truly going out of business. This was apparently not related to a bankruptcy or dire situations. Rather it was a calculated well-planned move that was intentionally designed to catch employees off guard. How do I know this? Well things like this don't happen overnight. Sometime back, probably months back, they started looking at how to save some dough. They produced charts and looked at markets. Had meetings and analyzed the numbers. Between the time they closed stores on Wednesday night and the time employees came to work on Thursday they closed up shop.

I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out that they even flew one or more people into town to run about and close the stores. They lack even the decency to have the employees stay on and work at shutting down the stores. Across the country people, especially working folks, should boycott Round Table Pizza in a demonstration of solidarity with the mistreated workers in Boise. What will be the next city to suffer the same fate?

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8 Comments

Round Table pizza

I own a business and I too am very disapointed to see the closure of the Round Table pizza company, I often ate there and had meetings there with employees I know times are tough and they will get tougher but it takes dedication and honesty to have and keep a good business and it takes the same from its employees to make it a great business I hope other cities and states take notice you could be next What are you going to do about it???

Idaho Round Table Stores

I worked for RT during the change from Paradise Pizza and the Former RT Franchisee to the corporate owned RT Stores. IT was always a tough market to make money in for them and they continued to move forward hoping things would get better. Gotta make money. thats the long and the short of it.

rtp closing

Sadly, what you say is exactly what happened. They knew months before the fact that when the leases expired on the buildings they inhabited, they would be pulling out of the market. Chickenshit? Yes. The fact that they did not forewarn employees was a tactic to preserve their assets, something I don't argue with but still, many loyal and caring subjects of the realm lost vital lively hoods. Should they have given any notice to the employees? Well, in the same situation I probably would have done the same thing. Greed circumvents morality for most humans.
The fact that they have been struggling to move forward as a business due to ever-rising costs of supplies and transportation, coupled with consumers resentful of three menu price hikes in less than a year and facing shrinking entertainment budgets due to the same rising energy costs and a mortgage crisis that affects so many of them lends me to agree with their decision to close stores that are draining resources and cash was not incorrect. This move may give them some breathing room, but damn little considering it was merely seven stores in a chain of almost 600. Time will tell whether or not they were fair in their methods, and if it will actually give them enough leeway to survive in an already cutthroat industry.
The universe/fate/karma/God has a way of balancing the actions of its participants. We will wait and see who gets to have the last laugh. I wonder how many of the upper level fat cats would suffer if their heads are on the block? I doubt they would feel much of a pinch as they have the ability to invest and save enough to survive longer periods of unemployment than the little guys they thrust out into the street by their heartless actions.
A note to Joshua, you said " A couple of times a year we would frequent Round Table ". Therein lies the problem, lack of repeat visits by the customer. It is impossible to remain profitable when your bread and butter is not showing up at the door to purchase the product....sorry, it's basic business 101. The customers in this area were very loyal as many were transplants from California, however if they can no longer afford to eat out as often due to aforementioned reasons then what options does a company have? I will miss the wonderful quality of the food almost as much as I miss the paycheck I was making there. Then again, I can make my own pizza at home for less than what my customers paid me and very likely it will be as good if not better!
As for a boycott, I feel while punishment may be deserving in this case, ultimately the lower ranks will suffer much more from this action than would those at the top. This is the way it is in every business. I think that a restructuring of the hierarchy would be more effective as would limiting the wasteful practice of flying people around on a whim, at huge expense to the company, when teleconferencing would be just as effective and much less resource intensive. Somehow I don't think that my opinion will matter much to those whose retirements are already secured by my sweat and the sweat of thousands of others.

Well, tell low-wage workers

Well, tell low-wage workers their job is going away in a week or two, and see what happens. Free food for friends, wasted supplies, damaged equipment, people not showing up and then what do you do?
Letting people know nothing about their store closing sucks, but, hey start writing down all the things that suck and you will be busy for a long time. Since when does everything have to go just so well for everyone? Some maturity here and stop pandering to everyone--it was the right way to do it. Give them two weeks severance and it is like they got that notice anyway. I am more interested in seeing RT give severance than advance notice. Maybe we need a nanny state government to make sure these things never, ever happen again [sic]. Or maybe we need to grow up.

Reply to Well....

Well..... I certainly hope that your company "downsizes" you, and you are forced to start competing for the few jobs there are out there, and take far less pay than the job you just "left". So, grow up, and start realizing that their actions have far reaching effects for individuals and their families. Unethical practices, lying, and devaluing employees is the norm for the majority of businesses now days. Bottom line profits mean more than people, and that is a sad thing. I think your prognosis for telling employees in advance is generalized at best. The right thing to do would have at the very least been to contact all the employees the night of the closing and explain what is happening, and let them know not to bother coming in to work the next day, and when they can pick up personal items.

RTP shuttering up in Las Vegas

RTP has been a favorite of mine since being stationed in California. An exquisite pie at a premium price for sure. Only way to afford to eat there was the lunch buffet.

They have shut down at least two Las Vegas locations in 2010. Always on my end of town too. If I ever go to another one here in Vegas, I'll call before going. Wasted 30 minutes driving to one that closed seemingly overnight last week.

I foresee the chain going completely under before long.

Personally I can't imagine

Personally I can't imagine coming to work and being layed off with a sticky note. Downsizing is a necessity sometimes in business, but I think it can be done with some class.

Personally,

Class is something most business abandoned long ago. It doesn't add to the "bottom line".