Less than two years after exiting bankruptcy protection, the Clover chain of restaurants is in trouble again, seeking a buyer and filing notice to lay off 182 workers if one doesn’t emerge.
Clover filed Sunday for the layoffs under the state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, an action first reported by The Boston Globe and Beth Treffeisen of boston.com. The company told boston.com it was “optimistic” it would stay in business in its “next chapter.”
The chain, founded locally by MIT and Harvard grad Ayr Muir in 2008 as a food truck, had 15 locations when it sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and 13 when it emerged under new chief executive Julia Wrin Piper. Still with a mission of serving vegetarian foods to nonvegetarians, the chain hoped to have 60 locations within five years.
The chain’s website says there are 11 locations now, including five in Cambridge: Central Square, Harvard Square and another inside the Harvard Science Center, Kendall Square and East Cambridge. A location at Assembly Square in Somerville closed in the first bankruptcy. The company also caters and sells kits for at-home meal prep.
There was another Cambridge company filing for layoffs last week: Takeda Pharmaceuticals, which warns of letting go 387 workers from the start of this year through Dec. 31, 2027. The state act requires employers with 50 or more workers to provide 60 days’ written notice before a plant closing or mass layoff.
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