Avocet Hospitality Group Brings Over 100 Furloughed Employees Back to work for Phase One of Reopening

CHARLESTON, SC (April 27, 2020) – Avocet Hospitality Group is bringing back over 100 furloughed employees across its collection of independent Charleston-based hotels and restaurants: The Vendue, Revival, The Rooftop Bar, Tides Folly Beach, BLU Beach Bar & Grill, and Pier 101 Restaurant. Starting Wednesday, April 29th, 2020, most employees will be working from home through online training sessions for the next few weeks until it is deemed appropriate to reopen. 

Avocet Hospitality Group furloughed the majority of its employees the week of March 16th as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak. Furloughed employees were provided with all accrued Paid Time Off and an additional two weeks of furlough pay. Avocet also agreed to cover all employee health insurance premiums until the end of the furlough or June 30th, 2020.

“Our employees are part of our family and many have been with us since we started in 2006. It’s a breath of fresh air to be able to bring a large part of our team back to work and put money in their pocket. There’s been a lot of uncertainty over the past several weeks surrounding the coronavirus, but we’re finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” said Jonathan Weitz, owner of Avocet Hospitality Group. “The training courses are designed to make sure we do everything possible to protect our employees and guests. Nobody wins if we open too fast without proper safety training and procedures,” added Weitz.

The online sessions will focus on preparing employees to safely service guests and minimize the risk of spreading or contracting COVID-19. Training will also cover continuing education on systems, customer service, company policies, as well as more fun topics such as cooking demonstrations, Charleston’s art scene, and mixology. However, the overarching theme throughout the entire curriculum revolves around enhancing employee preparedness working in the service industry post-COVID-19. 

“It’s important for us to invest in our team members by educating them on proper social distancing, food handling, disinfecting, guest interaction, and other new standards to ensure our guests feel confident staying at one of our hotels or dining in one of our restaurants,” said Amber Hultgren, director of human resources for Avocet Hospitality Group. “As we start reopening each business, we will continue to educate and reinforce the importance of maintaining these standards as we slowly get back to the new normal.” 

Each hotel and restaurant will experience a phased reopening to accommodate business levels without compromising the health and safety of both employees and guests. Avocet has developed a comprehensive three-phased set of guidelines for reopening that will be modified as necessary to conform with State or local requirements. All aspects of the plan were carefully thought out with the priority always being the safety of employees and guests.

Tides Folly Beach will reopen once the City of Folly Beach allows overnight accommodations, but in no event before the online training courses are completed. The Vendue is scheduled to open a limited number of rooms and employees on May 1st, 2020 due to a recent uptick in reservation requests, but the majority of employees will be at home taking the online classes.