Delaware North cuts 517 jobs company-wide

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) – Delaware North, headquartered in Buffalo, has cut 517 jobs from its company-wide workforce. The cuts are a result of the continued economic downturn and conditions largely associated with the coronavirus pandemic.

Delaware North operates 218 hospitality sites and venues and says it has become clear that the current economic conditions will not support the roles of the eliminated employees in the foreseeable future.

A Delaware North official tells WBEN 139 employees in the Buffalo area are among the positions cut and impact the downtown headquarters, Amherst call center, Niagara Falls State Park, Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Buffalo Bills Stadium and Hamburg Gaming.

Following is a complete company statement on the job eliminations:

“Delaware North continues to make difficult decisions required to stabilize the company in the wake of the pandemic.

These business conditions have forced us to close or greatly reduce our operations at our 218 hospitality business locations in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia over the last six months, and these conditions are likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

For example, most of the more than 50 sports stadiums, ballparks and arenas at which we provide food & beverage and retail services are closed, including TD Garden in Boston, which Delaware North owns and operates. Our airport restaurant business is operating at about 20 percent capacity at the 25 airports at which we operate. Visitation has been greatly reduced to many of the destination hotels, including in and near national parks, and to destination restaurants in Orlando, Los Angeles and New York that we operate. Although the casinos and other gaming venues that we own and operate have now reopened, they are operating at reduced capacities.

It’s clear that the global economy is not recovering as quickly as hoped, so we are still unable to predict when our business will come back to pre-COVID-19 levels. As a result, today we unfortunately had to eliminate 517 full-time positions across the company because it had grown increasingly clear that their roles would not return in the foreseeable future. Losing valued employees is never easy, but it was important to us to pay out a severance to these associates.

The company now has about 4,400 active full-time employees and 6,850 employees on leave. We recognize that this is difficult for all of them. Our ability to recall our employees from temporary leave has been frustratingly slow given the delays in operating location openings and the reduced capacity and demand experienced in those locations. Nevertheless, we are pledged to continue to bring employees back from leave as we continue to hope that business conditions will improve.