Waitr’s full-time drivers will be let go
Waitr, the food delivery service acquired by Tilman Fertitta’s “blank-check” company Lancadia Holdings for $308 million in 2018, said it would lay off all of its full-time drivers, including 219 in the Beaumont area, as it moves to a nationwide contract-only model for workers in April.
The Texas Workforce Commission on Thursday released details of a legally required notice from the company that it would terminate the employment of its drivers across the U.S. by April 6. The full- and part-time employees will not have an option to seek permanent positions in other markets where the company operates, the company said in an alert to the commission. They will be able to apply to work as contractors.
Louisiana-based Waitr, which launched in the Beaumont area in summer 2016, has announced similar moves in other markets to boost revenue and give drivers more flexibility to choose when and how long they work. Spokesman Dean Turcol said employees were surveyed about which system they preferred.
“There were some areas that had contract models and others that were employees,” Turcol said. “Most said they wanted to go to a contract model.”
In most states, however, contract workers do not qualify for the same benefits and labor protections as traditional employees.
A spokeswoman for Fertitta said Thursday that as an at-large board member who is not engaged in Waitr operations, Fertitta did not know enough to comment on the upcoming change for drivers.
In a July interview, Fertitta said home delivery was “not as profitable a business, but you have to do it right now.”
“We tend to make things better and figure things out,” he said, “and I think that’s what’s going to happen.”
Shares of Waitr have tumbled since the stock began trading on the Nasdaq at $13 per share through the Lancadia acquisition. The stock closed Friday at just above 33 cents a share.
Fertitta, the billionaire owner of Landry’s Inc. and the Houston Rockets, holds 4 million shares and is a member of the company’s board but does not have a day-to-day role in operations.
Asset management companies BlackRock and UBS Group AG both announced earlier in the week that they each control more than 5 percent of the outstanding stock in Waitr.
Founder and former CEO Chris Meaux stepped down in August and was replaced by Chief Operating Officer Adam Price. Meaux is now Waitr’s chairman.
Shares of Waitr have tumbled since they began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market at $13 per share.