Due to the new stay-at-home order and the closure of outdoor dining, Hopmonk Tavern announced today, Saturday, Dec. 12, that it is laying off 122 employees from its four locations, including 40 from the Sebastopol tavern.
“It’s winter, it’s the holidays, and Hopmonk just laid off 122 beloved staff members. Unbelievable,” Hopmonk founder Dean Biersch wrote in an email announcement from the company. “I think it’s safe to say none of us could have imagined the consequences an unknown virus would have on our lives, our families, our community, our work.”
Hopmonk Sebastopol’s General Manager Jess Gordon said the entire staff of the Sebastopol bar and restaurant has been laid off, with the exception of three managers, who will continue to run the restaurant’s take-out operation.
“Right now it’s me, my assistant general manager and our kitchen manager. Just the three of us running it seven days a week from opening to closing.”
Gordon wants people to know that all tips from takeout orders from Hopmonk are being donated to a fund for laid-off employees. There is also a GoFundMe to raise money for the fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-hopmonk-staff.
The company announced that one of their longtime suppliers kicked things off by donating $10,000 on Dec. 12 — a bright spot in an otherwise dark day for the popular restaurant group, which has four locations: Sebastopol, Penngrove, Novato and Sonoma.
They raised another $1,700 through the GoFundMe within an hour of the announcement hitting people’s inboxes.
“All the money raised will go to the employees who’ve been laid off,” Gordon said.
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