Elephant Bar put them out of work. Now three restaurants are offering jobs

It can be hard to find a silver lining when a restaurant like Elephant Bar closes abruptly, leaving its employees out of work with no warning.

The north Fresno restaurant closed Sunday but did not give any explanation why. Its staff, likely dozens of people, are suddenly unemployed.

But a little piece of good news surfaced in the Fresno Bee Facebook comments on the story Monday.

Jesse Toledo of Toledo’s Mexican Restaurants invited laid-off Elephant Bar workers to apply at any of its four restaurants. He welcomed people who had worked in either the front of the house (wait staff, etc.) or the back of the house (cooks, kitchen staff, etc.).

Later on, the company that runs 17 Wendy’s and 14 KFC restaurants in the Valley also invited Elephant Bar workers to apply, confirmed Kris Stuebner, executive director of JEM Restaurant Management Corp.

“For good people, we always have openings,” he said. “We don’t want to see anyone out of work.”

He directed job hunters to WendysFresno.com – for both Wendy’s and KFC jobs – where they can get a job application. They can also visit to any of the restaurants to inquire about job openings. The restaurants have management and nonmanagement positions available.

This story was originally published August 29, 2017 at 10:35 AM with the headline "Elephant Bar put them out of work. Now three restaurants are offering jobs."