EDIT & UPDATE:
Spectrum News 13 adds to the information pool a message from a Spokesperson from Homecomin’. The choice to terminate all employees was made so they can apply for unemployment benefits or assistance that is available to them. The restaurant workers will be given final paychecks and employees that elected to continue health insurance will continue to be assisted by Homecomin’ through the end of April.
“In this unprecedented time and after much deliberation, we were faced with the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic will likely continue for several months,” the spokesperson said in an email to Spectrum News. “It was clear that we had to set a course that would allow our company to be resilient so that at the end of this uncertain road we would have a business for our employees to return to. […] It is the hardest decision we have ever faced.”
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
Earlier today we reported on the quick and sudden shutdown of the Disney Springs Property, Splitsville Luxury Lanes. This was right on the heels of the massive Landry’s layoff that blind-sighted so many employees not only in Orlando but across the United States. Now we’re learning more about Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’, based in Walt Disney World Resort’s Disney Springs. The restaurant has announced a temporary closing as a result of the recent economy brought about by the Coronavirus.
Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ Closed
Earlier this week on Homecomin’s Twitter feed, they posted an image that spoke to the closure. It reads,
Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ Florida Kitchen will temporarily close today at 10pm. Along with the Walt Disney Company and our neighbors at Disney Springs, we are monitoring the developments of the COVID-19 situation and are taking all the recommended precautions and directives. We will continue to update our hours of operation as we have new information to share. This decision was made out of an abundance of caution and we look forward to welcoming you back home soon. Until then, stay healthy and stay safe.
If you go looking for Chef Art’s Homecomin’ on social media, you will find Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’s Twitter page has now been set to private, and the Facebook Fan Page has been deleted. Chef Art Smith admitted on a personal channel Instagram video that he and other chefs were hurting now, being that patrons are not filling restaurants. But he supported everyone, saying they all would come back. “Chefs know how to take a situation and make it into a great situation. We will. And we’ll come back, and we’ll do something incredibly beautiful.” Chef Smith said in his video. Please see his message to all below:
Closures continue to dot the landscape of both Walt Disney World Resort as well as Disneyland Resort. You can watch the eerie silence of Disneyland with the Hotel Tower Cam, LIVE on Youtube. We’ll continue to report on these bicoastal closures as they come about, though we wish everyone affected by these closures the best. It’s tough out there, but we’re all in this together.
