Lafayette Waitr files notice to eliminate all hourly drivers

Published 10:00 am Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Lafayette’s Waitr filed notice with the Louisiana Office of Workforce Development to eliminate the 2,300 drivers it currently employs.

The company filed its Workforce Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice on Feb. 6. The notice is required 60 days prior to a layoff, putting the effective date of Waitr’s move on April 6.

The WARN notice makes official the company’s announcement to employees earlier this month that it would be eliminating all of its hourly drivers, instead opting to put its workers on as individual contract employees.

The company’s stock closed Monday at 34 cents a share on the NASDAQ exchange. If that price does not rise above $1 before June, the company will be delisted.

The move is the latest slide for a company that was once seen as a “unicorn,” one of those companies venture capitalists seek out because of their high chance of profitability. It took only five years after serial entrepreneur Chris Meaux formed the food delivery service in Lake Charles for investors to be found. Casino operator Tilman Fertitta and financier Richard Handler announced a deal to acquire the company for $50 million cash and $250 million in stock in 2018.

Waitr debuted shortly thereafter on the NASDAQ market, peaking at around $15 a share.

But by May, the luster had worn off. Waitr share price had fallen below $8. On May 16, Waitr made a second stock offering with $50 million in shares available before announcing it was changing its pricing model to achieve profitability and dropped the pretense of creating its own integrated app.

Layoffs immediately followed. The change in pricing led to restaurant boycotts of Waitr in protest of price hikes.

In August, Waitr stock plummeted after an abysmal second quarter earnings report and Meaux’s termination as CEO announced. His successor, Adam Price, resigned before the year was out.

Last month Carl Grimstad took over as CEO just in time to oversee the layoff of another 150 employees.

That announcement came in late January, about a week before Waitr filed its WARN notice.