News and notes from Reston (tm).

Monday, January 12, 2015

Salt in the Wounds: Despite Hopeful Article, Macaroni Grill Probably Not to Return

Picture, if you will, the roller coaster of emotions experienced at Restonian World Headquarters over the weekend when we fired up our Internet browsing machine of choice and saw this exciting headline:

Shocker
The headline should probably have been a tad larger -- maybe not quite as large as GERMANY SURRENDERS, but close. Yet our hearts soared, or more accurately, raced erratically in anticipation of carb-intensive happiness. But soon, our spirits (and blood pressure) sank.

Alas, it is (probably) not to be. The basis for the article is the fact that some job listings for the late great Reston Macaroni Grill are still being posted to a job site.

A recent job ad, posted Dec. 29 states the the company is seeking a manager for a Macaroni Grill restaurant in Reston. Other ads placed Dec. 30 show they are looking for bussers, line chefs and dishwashers.

An employee at the Macaroni Grill in Alexandria said there is no restaurant in Reston and none planned. No one answered the phone at owner Ignite Restaurant Group in Houston.

Yet, ads have been placed in the past 10 days.
The most logical explanation? The ads were scheduled well in advance of the December 18 closing, which by all accounts took employees by surprise. Or, given the normal turnaround in the restaurant industry, the ads are just set to post on auto-pilot on a regular basis by a HR manager who hasn't gotten around to turning them off yet.

Meanwhile, an online fundraiser for the abruptly terminated employees has raised more than $1800 at last count.

Sadly, we have to say this is only a final tragic rage against the dying of the light, if by "light" you mean "tablecloths you can draw on with crayons."

Salt, meet wounds -- and the last thing our until-recently Macaroni Grill-intensive diet needs now is more salt. And so it is with a heavy, sclerotic heart that we keep the minute hand of the Macaroni Grill Doomsday Clock (tm) firmly set at midnight.


3 comments:

  1. Given how crappy and out of date the postings on most job boards are, that's some stellar journalism on Patch's part there.

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  2. There was a rumor that the Ignite folks would simply shut it down and then reopen it with another of their "dining concepts," such as the Brickyard or Brick something or other.. some sort of new corporate carbohydrate delivery system. But the no-warning layoff of all staff would seem to indicate total abandonment of the site. Also indicative of an exit was last weekend's cascade o' water coming from the restaurant ..the parking lot area from the grill to T-Mobile and Robek's was an ice sheet after the water pipe burst ..I guess it would have been prudent to maintain some heating within the shuttered building. When you are Ignite, you care for your pipes as much as you care for your people: screw 'em.

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