Today, Food52, the Brooklyn-based parent company of Schoolhouse and Dansk, issued a round of layoffs that amounted to what a source with knowledge of the situation described as 75 percent of the total staff. The majority of the cuts were concentrated at Schoolhouse, the Portland, Oregon–based whole-home brand that was acquired in 2021.
It’s no secret that the content-and-commerce company has been on shaky ground in recent years, laying off more than 40 percent of its staff and was rumored to be considering plans to shutter Schoolhouse’s Portland manufacturing facility this past March. Most recently, reports of a possible sale were floated in the press just before the Thanksgiving holiday. So when employees were invited to a mandatory all-hands meeting on Wednesday afternoon, many assumed it would be to announce a new owner. Instead, CEO Erika Ayers Badan joined the meeting with a warning that she didn’t have good news to share. During the call, she informed staff that on Monday, the company had found its bank account balance at zero, and that staff would be sent an email within the next 15 minutes informing them of whether they were still employed.
Shortly thereafter, the vast majority of employees at Schoolhouse were let go without severance. According to the source, a skeleton crew remains, including the company’s unionized manufacturing staff, whose contract stipulated advance notice of a layoff. Less than 30 employees remain at the overall company, including members of Food52’s content and advertising teams.
When confirming the news, the source said that the company’s secured lender, Avidbank, had abruptly cut off access to funds without warning on Monday. They said that, despite the layoffs, the sale process was ongoing.
“[The company is in] conversation with a myriad of select parties who are very interested,” the source told Business of Home. “It takes a little bit of time. [It’s] the beginning of the process. What happened in the last 36 [hours] was unforeseen, unexpected and completely out of nowhere.”
A former Schoolhouse employee says that after 20 years of slow-but-steady growth under independent ownership, the acquisition by Food52 led to a tumultuous period for the brand—during which rapidly shifting goalposts, revolving leadership and abrupt changes in strategy had taken a toll. In recent months, it had weathered a barrage of negative online reviews, which cited protracted ship times, oversold products, delayed refunds on returns, and unresponsive customer service.
According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the company will remain active in the days ahead, and Schoolhouse will continue to ship orders that were placed before the layoffs.
