update on restaurants from Frank Barnako

[designbyroe]

October 13, 2009
Asolare adds days, Paradiso gets new chef
The Director of Operations for three upscale St. John restaurants says business is picking up.

Coby Cooper assumed management of the Integrated Assets eateries about three months after CEO, Michael San Filippo left the island.

With a weak economy and a slow summer for tourists on St. John, things were tough. “I closed Chloe and Bernard’s at the Westin to save money; there weren’t a lot of people at the resort,” Cooper told News of St. John. He hopes Chloe’s will reopen by the first week in November.

“The Balcony is doing well,” he said, and added Asolare’s business has picked up in the last week. He’s decided to expand its operation from three days a week to five, Monday through Friday. (Some island restaurants are closed on weekends because those are turnover days for villas and visitors are less likely to eat out so soon after arrival.)

Cooper said there are also changes afoot at Mongoose Junction’s Paradiso. A new executive chef has been hired, Adam, who previously was sous chef under the island’s iconic Chef Ted Robinson.

Addressing reports that employees are owed wages, Cooper agreed that is the case. “When I took over they were behind,” he said. “Now, we’re less behind.”

He is hoping for help from the restaurant’s former owner. He’s heard that Winston Bennett wants to regain the business and has pledged that the restaurants will stay open. “I know he has never turned his back on the restaurants,” Cooper said, “He has (already) helped in many ways. He’s always had some involvement.”

While ownership issues may be confused and involve legal action, Cooper says he’s focused on business at hand. “These restaurants need to survive. They need to get food in, they need to have staff ... that’s my job.

“As far as anything else, whatever is going on, I can’t listen to it. I have to do my job.”

[iamyourserver]

Curious as to why he would resign then...Mmmmmmm

[uptotheminute]

As usual, same old Coby, same old bull. The Balcony was just served an eviction notice. Still no paychecks. Several undocumented employees were gathered together last night and went to the police station to turn in their bad paychecks. Winston is not being allowed to leave the island as he is now under police investigation.

Don't believe the bull, and DON'T eat at these restaurants! Make a statement that this kind of behavior will not be accepted! There are too many good, legitimate establishments that do deserve your business to waste your money on bad people like this. Sure it will be tough for the employees at first (though no tougher than not being paid in the first place), but eventually everyone will move onto bigger and better things.

[wildtamarind]

why did coby resign? because winston threw him under the bus big time in the tradewinds? or because he had the foresight to see that the restaurants were all sinking? ummmm let me see did he get tired of hiding and running from people or lieing just got a bit tricky? and winston to the rescue? really when people were told that if they ask for their money they will be fired! these are shady men in shady places. like my mama said if you shit where you are you eventually step in your shit. nuff said.

[Berlingirl]

Who actually owns these eating establishments? Can one of the employees explain who is responsible? Who is the person at the top of this mess? Wondering if the owners are indigent and really can't pay up or if they are rich mainlanders coming down to play resturant for a while, they've been profitable in the past, did they take the money and run and leave everybody in a sinking ship???

The entire story is very confusing.

[ToNto]

Good question. Who owns these restaurants?

If you ask Winston, he will say, he sold them to Michael in 2005 and whatever happened since then, meaning the debt, bad paychecks etc. was Michael and General Manager Coby's fault.

But the bottom line is they have been and will continue to be owned by "integrated assets" Who, include oh look at this: Michael, Coby, Winston and Paul Kessock. So in essence they all had their hands in this mess and don't you believe for one minute one of them didn't know about the bad checks etc.

I was very surprised Winston would try and make such lame comments as a "wire transfer" was the problem and the bad, bad employees were told to hold on to their checks? If a wire transfer is a problem it can be handled pretty quickly. And anyone who had a check, and were told there was a problem, why would they try and cash it? They would wait a day or two if that were the case wouldn't they?

I believe will all the tax fraud and writing of bad checks etc. they realize it isn't one person in trouble, it is ALL of them. You will see who will break, who will spill the beans in effort to have their "get out of jail" card handed to them.

for now, I disagree, by not going to these establishments; you are still hurting the employees who still show up, hoping to make any sort of money. To tell them to go find other jobs, some have, some have not, but to punish them more by spreading the word to not eat there, makes it that much worse. If possible, leave your gratuity in cash. That's all. The servers, bartenders and staff that remain are troopers. Reward them, don't condemn them.

depressing to say the least.

[California Girl]

Where did this Michael guy go? Does anyone know?

[Berlingirl]

Thank you ToNto...Very enlightening post!!!

[satobsat]

Coby was right about two things. First, by closing Chloe's, he was able to save money. When the cooks, who were owed significant back pay, refused to work any longer, Coby closed the restaurant. He then told those same cooks who showed up on payday that since the restaurant had to close because of them, that there was no money to pay them. Voila, thousands of dollars in back & current pay saved. Secondly, Coby states that the restaurants are less behind than when he took over. He used a new & revolutionary management technique to achieve this. It's complicated, but to break it down to it's simplist terms, it works this way. Let people work for two weeks. On payday, tell the people that there is nothing in the bank & that you cannot write any checks. Voilà, again, thousands of dollars saved. Is there a Nobel Prize for restaurant management? If so, I know who I'd nominate. Here are some answers to some other questions on this thread. First Michael Sanfilipo left island when his food service company, Quality Food, went belly up. The circumstances involving that plant closing were pretty ugly & Michael's life was threatened. He relocated quickly. Tthe four corporate officers were correctly named above & I have no reason to believe, based on what I'vebeen told by the principals, that any of them currently have the resources to bail these places out. Neither Michael nor Winston claim current ownership of these places, or responsability for the debt & since it is a corporation, I think it would come down to who owns stock. The police, however, say that Michael, Coby & Winston are all culpable for the check fraud & if the DA agrees, people are going to get cuffed.

[HeyWatchThis!]

Hey, the DA better get on it, cause Winston has a flight outta here this Friday.

[iamyourserver]

HWT - agreed, it was a bit of a stretch to say he has never told the truth in his life. I guess what I was really trying to say was in MY dealing with Coby he tells the truth about 25% of the time. In my opinion, while he is not solely responsible for bad checks, he is responsible for the aftermath. You cannot keep telling people, to try to cash it again tomorrow, or go ahead and redeposit it - people are going to get pissed off and never trust you. And that is exactly what happened...In dealing with Winston this week, I can tell you that he is ALMOST just as clueless as Coby.

[designbyroe]

Maybe someone can answer this then:
how is it that Asolare and Paradiso and Chloe and Bernards ran for yrs and seemed to be doing well?
Didn't Winston own Integrated then?
I am not pointing fingers, just trying to understand how this all happened..