03/05/2024
We have a duty to our community and customers who deserved to know why we are not opening this year. And as a warning to get paid first when dealing with these people.
As if stealing the diner and not paying me for my work isn't bad enough they are now attempting to seize this page and my kitchen. The true story will be told. I cannot be intimidated.
For years Tom, Jeff, and I talked about wanting the donut diner. Dumping the hard work, too many item barn for the high profit air conditioned ease. We mean no ill will to the previous owners. They are good hearted people and built a fantastic business.
Chatam fair we find out they're selling. They're working with a buyer they know and I assume is family, so I respectfully don't approach it.
UP fair comes I'm told its for sale. They're told it's sold.
Now the dilemma starts. I play with the idea of getting the loan myself given their poor history as 'partners' for the last 5 years. With my extraordinary reputation I have multiple investors willing to work with me and we have a mortage free rental downstate.
However I decide thats not honest enough for me. They at least rode the bad years and I had plans way beyond the diner and barn. I wanted 100 trailers across the USA. The Diner was just going to pay for it. I could work with half of 300k a year. The minimum projected profits off a full 12month route.
I tell him. He tells his wife. She calls me asking about it. I tell her I will do it or we will do it just let me know.
Then he says he has all this money and value and that it's no problem don't worry about it. He will handle the loan. This is fine by me considering that's the only value they have in the business.
Well the contracted sale date comes and there's nothing done. I flip out because that's my reputation they just damaged with what I thought at the time was laziness. I assume the old owners will pull out after this disgusting display of disrespect.
He later tells me it was calculated because the spouse wants to cut me out and instead of telling me, so I can pursue my own financing. I'm lied to and told excuses to drag it out. I say whatever just make it happen we'll iron it out later.
I find out it's structured not in his name at all and again flip out. I post the barn for sale. I'm out. Good luck. I sell it we cut in half and I will go make money another way. This is America. I'm nobodies slave.
Instead he comes over and my wife and neighbor listen to the entire conversation when I'm promised half of the diner. He cries the same repetitive I want free money. I explain the repetitive I am building something bigger than us or quick payouts. That we go over every single year when I offer a buyout and he says no, so I pay them 1000$ interest and he says that's fine. The partnership agreement has no stipulation for profit sharing and the 6% of 17,000 is all they're legally entitled to. The barn was never to make big money in my plans. The lemonade stands and my other concession ideas and various expansions were.
First he says he'll just give me his half of the barn. I'm good on that. I don't want anything for free. Then I'm promised 50-50 of the diner and offered a contract. Again I still trust him and say no need. The other stipulation was the diner would carry the red barn financially as we transition to a team without me. Which would be costly as I am. Well me.
I message the old owners and say I will be onboard running the show after they had begun to pullout after finding out I was not involved. I have documents confirming this. This sale never happens without me. Not in 86 million years.
So I begin. I contact all the events and establish new connections and schedules. I set everything up. He continues to say oh it's no problem I got it for anything financial.
I want the diner to be all legit. So I agree to a payroll as half of my money trying to make everything legal I wanted him on payroll as well.
I'm busting my back. Cleaning, working, training them on inventory, books, business flow, the millions of tricks I know, customer service. Managing both businesses with events on opposite ends of the state.
Things start to seem too weird. There were a few questionable things said and reactions looking back were obvious. I question it all on the way back from bridgefest. After I worked a 21 hour day after sleeping in the truck for maybe 3 hours the night before. An event I booked and had over $7,000 in sales on Saturday. I was already angry because I could have done 12k that day if they didn't interfere.
He begins to complain about finances and never getting more free money from the barn. After saying everything was good I am stunned it's the same yearly argument only this time I'm really going to get screwed. He shows me on his app how we've already made 25k in profit in the diner and the 7k in cash that was cut off the top.
Well the barn is behind over 5,000$ at this point and I have no option but to finish the year. He offers me these ridiculous negotiations of taking all the money from the events. Then half the money as the first offer (i know right?) to go run the diner in munising and trenary.
I refuse. I will do the redbarn. I tell him to act like a CEO, quit whining and get a crew to do both events like I would. Instead their incompetence shows by ditching Munising and lying about why.
I finish the year in the barn, and we did fantastic. But there was start of the year losses, 2022 carryover losses, and new storage/moving expenses. I still held out hope they would roll in all that money and realize I'm worth more than all of it and apologize and gave me what I earned.
We sent a generous bill in November that never included my hours on the phone and researching events. I don't just click randomly and say let's go here. I poured weeks into that. I had begun planning a full yearly schedule.
Of course the apology never happened. I probably lost the rest of my marbles, but it's ok.
Now a sale is the only resolution and the real question is what do they owe me and what do I owe them. To me they owe me beyond any number. There is no value to the level of malicious, egregious, and intentional harm thats been done especially considering where it came from.
Lastly it is my duty to inform our clients/followers of false uses of our name/reputation and that we have no affiliation with those people in the diner. They are lazy, do not clean to original diner standards or mine and they've done nothing in or with the barn. He worked as a simple employee for 2 fairs and I would have rather had my neices or nephews. They worked the tacos and got every penny for that everyday they worked it. If your tacos were cold the first year as I've heard many times thats because they didn't listen to me on adequately preparing.
They argued with me about using gloves to touch the product going into your taco. This is the incompetence I dealt with. I cleaned up after them for free. I paid the sales tax. I paid the insurance.
Covid and these inflation years after has been hard on small businesses and restaurants across America. My wife and I have poured thousands of dollars into keeping the barn open thru it all.
They are not and will never be Red Barn. Even if somehow they manipulate the courts to seize my equipment.
We will return after all this is settled in court. Who knows. We may end up owning the diner after all. All they had to do was pay what I earned and what we agreed to. Instead arrogance and treating me like a peasant is more important.
Again thank you for your patronage and support thru all the years.
