“After many nights of contemplating,” La Magie owner Di Long said in a Facebook post, “I have decided to sell my little bakery. I’m happy, yet I also feel sad. It’s always hard to let go of things you love…, but sometimes you might need to let go for better things to come. It saddens me to have to inform you that April 21st will be our last day.” The change was abrupt, an employee who asked to remain anonymous, said, “We didn’t even get a week or two notice that we must find other employment. Whomever purchased it will be totally remodeling it and it will be something entirely different. We, as the staff are super sad, disappointed, angry etc. as well as the customers we have had to inform.”
This article appears in Apr 24 – May 1, 2019.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
Well, I was sad to hear La Magie was closing. But now I am pissed to hear that workers were treated so poorly by their ex-boss. Shame on her. They should contact BOLI. Not sure how big/small business has to be before “advance notice” requirement kicks in. Whatever Di Long does next in town, count me out. There are plenty of good places to eat in town where employees are treated with respect and dignity. She should ask around and learn some lessons. –Michael Funke
Well, I checked with BOLI and the WARN Act does not cover workplaces with 100 or more employees, which I doubt they had at this bakery. If there were 100+ workers, advance notice would be legally required. Of course, nothing prevents an employer from providing advance notice. That could have been done by this boss. It would have been the right thing to do. Nice cupcakes are no substitute for treating workers with some dignity. BOLI does provide legal ways to get back pay if any of these workers are owed money. I realize that there are very few restaurants where the workers have a union, but it is still worth noting that having a union can protect workers and even contractually provide advance notification on closings. I hope these former employees of La Magie can find jobs fast and are perhaps hired by new owners in this space. This isn’t the first time workers in Bend’s food and beverage industry have been treated poorly by a boss and unfortunately it will not be the last. Organizing together rather than going it alone can help. –Michael Funke
I am not sure where you got your sources. When the sale of the bakery was 75% for sure, I told all my employees. This gave them one week notice while we were open, and I would hire them for another week to help with the move, giving all employees two weeks notice. Some were hired at my other restaurant, some found other jobs. For the most part, I tried my best to make sure my employees were taken care of. I have been in the restaurant business for a very long time, as you can tell from my restaurants, I do not have a very high turnover rate. I have never been called a horrible boss or human being. Reading some of these articles and comments, really hurts. I worked really hard to build this bakery, due to personal reasons, yes, I sold it. I dont want to bore people with my reasons, it was very sad and hard for me to make the decision, and I would like everyone to respect that. I enjoyed every moment of it, all the cakes Ive made and all the challenges it gave me. I will continue to do my best to find great things to bring to this community. Thank-you for your continued support.
Ive worked at La Maggie in the past, and Di never treated her employees (maybe besides a select few) with respect or kindness. They are just warm bodies to her
Sources are former employees, as is clearly noted in the original article and the post here. Maybe you should talk to them. –Michael Funke
If anyone could get the Eggs Benedict recipe from the owner, that would be awesome! It was my husbands favorite meal from anywhere and Id like to make it for him. I had no idea they were even closing, actually we were planning to go there for the last month for Mothers Day.
I worked at La Magie years ago and to this day it was the worst job I’ve ever had. Di Long treats her employees with a complete lack of respect and did plenty of shady and unethical things while I was employed. Good riddance!
Di, you just havent heard people call you a horrible boss because you never have them the respect and attention necessary to listen. I can honestly say that when I worked at this job, the only benefit I found after was the fact that I knew what not to look for in an employer. Stop being fake when there are 15+ people that agree with your awful treatment.