Milwaukee-based
Marcus Corp. has laid off 212 additional workers at its Wisconsin businesses as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the service and hospitality industries.
According to multiple WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notices filed with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development late last week, the company permanently cut nine jobs at the Hilton Madison hotel, six at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center hotel in Milwaukee, 39 at The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, 69 at Saint Kate Arts Hotel in Milwaukee, 52 at the SafeHouse Milwaukee restaurant, and 37 at the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Lake Geneva.
The layoffs will take effect on Aug. 31, according to the WARN notices.
Those layoffs are in addition to layoffs announced by the company in
late June, when Marcus Corp. laid off 425 workers at its Wisconsin hotels, the SafeHouse restaurant and Marcus Hotels & Resorts corporate headquarters. That was at the tail end of a three-month-long shutdown across the entire business due to COVID-19.
"Our hope was to return all remaining staff to work by the end of the summer," Marcus Corp. stated in the recent notices. "Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic has continued to negatively impact our ability to maintain normal business levels."
All told, the company has now laid off 617 employees due to the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.
Last week, Marcus Corp.
reported a net loss of $27 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2020. That’s compared to net earnings of $18 million during the same period in 2019. Total revenue for the quarter plummeted 97% to $7.93 million, with theater admissions representing just $154,000. Last year, second quarter theater admissions produced $83 million in revenue for the company.
Six of Marcus Hotels' eight properties have fully reopened, including The Pfister Hotel, Grand Geneva Resort & Spa, Timber Ridge Lodge & Waterpark, the Hilton Madison, the Skirvin Hilton Hotel and Omaha Marriott Downtown.
Saint Kate Arts Hotel last week reopened its first-floor, including the lobby area, bar-restaurants and art galleries, but rooms remained closed. Hilton Milwaukee City Center is expected to reopen next week, said president and chief executive officer Greg Marcus during last week's earnings call.
Six of Marcus Theatres' 90 locations have reopened so far, but Marcus said the majority of the company's movie theaters will reopen by the end of August.
