The Cheesecake Factory, the Los Angeles-area-based restaurant giant known for an extensive menu and signature desserts, temporarily has reduced operations at the company’s plant in the Rocky Mount area.
In a letter to the state Department of Commerce dated March 26, The Cheesecake Factory said 376 people would be affected. The plant is located in the Whitaker Business and Industry Center near the Interstate 95 interchange for the Gold Rock area.
The letter said the list of the employees affected, by position, are 299 in production, 31 in sanitation, 13 in maintenance, 11 in receiving, 10 in quality assurance and nine in shipping.
Sidney Greathouse, The Cheesecake Factory’s vice president for legal services, said in an email on Friday that, “During the temporary reduction in hours, the facility will operate on a modified schedule, staggering production between the California and North Carolina facilities.
“This reduction may also include temporary furloughs,” Greathouse said.
The letter said the plant in the Rocky Mount area does not have a labor union and that the affected employees do not have any bumping rights.
Generally, a bumping right means a senior-level employee can replace a less senior employee in a particular assignment or job for which both employees are qualified.
The Cheesecake Factory’s letter to the state Commerce Department was received on Monday and said the company took the action following Gov. Roy Cooper’s March 17 order prohibiting bars and restaurants in North Carolina from offering dine-in service as a result of the pandemic.
The letter is public record as specified by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
The WARN Act is designed to require employers of more than 100 people to provide at least 60 calendar days advance written notice of a plant closing or mass layoff affecting 50 or more employees at a single site of employment.
The Cheesecake Factory’s plant in the Rocky Mount area can be traced to 2006, and a Telegram story in 2018 reported the plant was churning out about 11 million cheesecakes a year.
The plant is designed to serve The Cheesecake Factory’s locations in the eastern United States and abroad and also to make cheesecakes destined for retailers like Target and Harry & David, as well as buyers in the food service industry.
Copies of the WARN Act letter also were sent to City Manager Rochelle Small-Toney and Mayor Sandy Roberson.
Roberson said over the phone on Wednesday he believes the letter was not to be unexpected because of the plant’s distribution points being The Cheesecake Factory restaurants and retail shelves.
“So they are just not selling the cheesecakes during this COVID stay-at-home period,” Roberson said.
“And I hate it,” Roberson said of what happened to such a regional operation.
Additionally, Roberson emphasized that one driving through Rocky Mount can see the economic devastation resulting from the pandemic.
“We’ve got a lot of other folks that are struggling,” Roberson said.
Roberson also said he has been spending a good deal of his time trying to help figure out, assist and promote redevelopment when the opportunity comes once the quarantine ends.
“The government is doing a lot, but it doesn’t mean that those entrepreneurs understand how to access those benefits,” Roberson said.
