‘It’s been a struggle.’ To fight burnout, Charlotte restaurant group to close for a day

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated on Aug. 6 after Mac’s Hospitality Group said it will pay employees normally scheduled to work on Mondays for the day off, rather than have the day as unpaid.

A Charlotte restaurant group that kept operating through the coronavirus pandemic is closing for a day to give its employees a day off to help ease worker burnout.

All Mac’s Speed Shop locations and SouthBound will be closed Monday, Aug. 9.

“People are just tired, they’re burned out, they just don’t show up, they’ll work lunch and leave and not come back,” Mac’s President Shang Skipper told the Observer Tuesday. “So it’s been a struggle.”

Skipper said a co-owner had erroneously told the Observer earlier in the week that workers would not get paid for the day off.

But anyone normally scheduled to work on Monday will be paid for a full shift, Skipper said Friday. “No one is losing pay,” he said. “We always take care of our people.”

The company has nearly 700 employees, about 250 more than before the pandemic, Skipper said.

But even that’s not enough to keep up with customer demand. At one location, one worker has been putting in up to 35 hours of overtime a week.

“The only way to stop the burnout is to close the restaurant and let everybody have a day off,” Skipper said.

Employees ‘above and beyond’

Mac’s Hospitality saw a 520% increase in take-out and delivery sales since the pandemic started in March last year, the Observer previously reported.

The popular Charlotte restaurant group known for barbecue, beers and bikers also amped up its social media strategy and community support.

Skipper credits employees for going “above and beyond” to help the company grow despite the pandemic and said one way to say thanks is give them “a much-needed break.”

A companywide day off is just another way Mac’s is trying to take care of its workers, Skipper said, like sending trucks to each store to give employees free ice cream and offering referral and hiring bonuses.

All about Mac’s

Mac’s Hospitality has eight Mac’s Speed Shop barbecue locations in the Carolinas, plus its SouthBound restaurant on South Boulevard.

The first Mac’s Speed Shop opened in 2005 on South Boulevard. Other restaurants are in Steele Creek, Cornelius, Matthews, Wilmington, Fayetteville, Greensboro and Greenville, S.C.

Mac’s Hospitality also operates three other businesses in Charlotte, the speakeasy BackStage Lounge attached to SouthBound, an outdoor music venue called The Music Yard and the self-pour taproom The Studio.

This story was originally published August 5, 2021 at 6:30 AM.