Bobcat Bonnie’s Owner Reaches Settlement With Ypsilanti Workers #DetroitFood
An severance agreement was reached a day after workers began picketing outside of the Ferndale location
The owner of the Ypsilanti location of gastropub Bobcat Bonnie’s has reached an agreement on a severance package with a group of workers who’ve been displaced<-link to your reporting following the store’s abrupt closure in early October.
Bobcat Bonnie’s owner Matt Buskard informed team members on Sunday, October 13 that operations at the 200 West Michigan Avenue restaurant, along with basement bar Keystone Bar & Arcade, would be temporarily suspended. The closure announcement appeared to come after a group of staff members approached management at the group’s offices with concerns about alleged bounced checks and inconsistent schedules as well as claims of poor treatment by management. Following the closure, a group of employees calling themselves Bobcats United took to social media in recent weeks to air their concerns and to garner support for a picket line that was formed outside of the Ferndale location on Thursday, October 17, and was scheduled to continue through Sunday, October 20. However, Bobcat’s management announced the following day that workers and the company had come to an agreement.
In a written statement issued to reporters on Friday, October 18, Buskard thanked the Bobcats United group for keeping things civil and professional during severance package negotiations:
Going forward, the management team and I are dedicated to listening to all of our employees as we work together to create a fun and inviting dining experience for our guests. I am looking forward to implementing quite a few changes across the board at Bobcat Bonnie’s restaurants effective immediately. Your feedback will be very important to me. Please come have a meal soon at Bobcat Bonnie’s in Corktown, Ferndale, Grand Rapids, Wyandotte and Lansing so that you can meet our team where they are happiest — on the job and making money.
Details about the contents of the severance were not shared, nor was it clear how many employees would be offered the deal. A representative for the company declined to comment to Eater about the agreement. Bobcats United posted on Instagram on Friday, October 18 that workers signed the agreement, noting the power of labor organizing. “[We] are here for you if you need support organizing your store, too. Go celebrate at your nearest Bobcat Bonnie’s, tip your server/bartender BIG, and tell the workers there that you support them!” reads the post.
Bobcat Bonnie’s first entered the local restaurant scene in 2015, with the opening of its first location in Corktown. The regional chain now has five locations across Michigan’s lower peninsula, and has plans to expand to Ohio with a Toledo outpost in the works, according to the company website. In early 2022, Buskard took over ownership of Ferndale brunch destinaton, Fly Trap, but on Sunday, October 13 that he would return operations to the previous owners. In addition to a Toledo location forthcoming, another Bobcat Bonnie’s is supposed to land in Kalamazoo in southwest Michigan, though no official opening date has been announced. Meanwhile, the chain’s Macomb County location at the Mall at Partridge Creek shuttered over the summer and Buskard took over ownership of Ferndale’s M-1 Brew and rebranded the spot as Scout Vester.
from Eater Detroit - All
Post a Comment