Rodizio Grill in Lafayette closed it’s doors for the last time Sunday afternoon, but some employees say they didn’t know Sunday’s shift would be their last until minutes before closing time.

“The manager’s plan was to let us know the day of, but we found out through rumors from some other employees that we were going to close,” said former employee Noe Zavala.

“I heard rumors earlier, but yesterday my boss confirmed it and was like ‘this is really happening’,” added Seth Higginbotham.

Zavala and Higginbotham were two Rodizio’s employees who found out about the restaurant’s closure ahead of their last day. But many other employees did not get notified until 3:30 Sunday afternoon, only 30 minutes before Rodizio closed for its last shift ever.

Zavala said, “That’s messed up they told us the last day. And then [the manager] didn’t even tell us in person. He told us through WhatsApp.”

The announcement sent to employees on Sunday through a messaging app reads in part,

“Hello everyone we regret to announce that we will be closing Rodizio after this Sunday the 16th… We’ve decided to take the restaurant in another direction and will reopen as a new restaurant… We want to encourage everyone to come and reapply when we are close to reopening.”

“It’s very unfair on the workers to be told this last minute right before everything is shut down,” said former employee, Karla DeCuir.

Just last week, DeCuir was working two jobs; one of them, as a hostess at Rodizio. She, unfortunately, got let go of her other job on Friday, then DeCuir received the devastating news that she would no longer be able to continue working at Rodizio due to its closing.

She adds,”To know that the one job I had left is gone, is just something that I’m struggling with. Because now I have to search for another job and hope that someone is willing to hire me.”

News 10 reached out to Rodizio’s management, they responded with the following press release: