'He stopped paying us' | Popular restaurant fights claims of unpaid wages, rent after shutting down
The restaurant's co-owner announced they'll be permanently shutting down earlier this week.
www.kvue.com
A popular restaurant is closing its doors for good.
Valentina's Tex-Mex BBQ opened in Buda last year but faces allegations of unpaid wages and rent. In May, the U.S. The Labor Department confirmed it's investigating those claims.
Ethan Walker, who worked at Valentina’s for eight months, says on the surface, everything was great.
“It was a really good work environment. Honestly, I liked Miguel. He was a good boss but then, you know, he stopped paying us," Walker said.
Walker says right before the summer, paychecks became scarce. He says Valentina’s co-owner Miguel Vidal – who shares the business with his wife Modesty – would say their checks were coming. Then the checks stopped coming altogether. That April, Vidal said they would be closing the restaurant temporarily.
“I would say that it affects us a lot,” Walker said. “People need that money for certain financial things and us not having that has really put us in a bind.”
Walker, who’s off to college next week, says he hasn’t heard from Vidal since March about getting paid. He says the money he’s still owed would help him pay off the rest of his tuition. Thursday, Vidal announced they’d be permanently closing their space in Buda.
“That means the chances of us not getting paid is going down,” Walker said. “This needs to end. He needs to pay us and it needs to happen like now.”
Vidal sat down with KVUE saying he’s trying to make things right with everyone. Vidal says early this year, he began having trouble keeping up with rent and taxes.
“I'm not trying to avoid people,” Vidal said. “It's been hard for us too.”
He says Valentina's went from a food truck- to a large restaurant in a very quick amount of time, and isn’t sure they ever fully adjusted to the change. He says they had been paying rent on the building before they even moved into the space.
“At that point, it’s not like I didn't just pay anybody," Vidal said. "If a check was not going through and I told them we couldn't pay, we tried to make it right within a week as much as possible."
Vidal says they reached out to inKind, a restaurant finance company for help. He says the temporary closure was planned, but then his landlords shut them out saying Valentina's owed more than $91,000 in rent.
“I’m charged for May, June, July ... I haven't even been in the store, so once I'm shut down for business and I have no income, there's no cash flow," Vidal said. "How am I supposed to pay that?"
Vidal says inKind eventually offered him a contract that didn't make him comfortable.
“I'm not gonna sign something that gives over all my recipes, my name," Vidal said. "I asked for even a small portion of equity in it, and basically, it's not right."
Instead, Vidal says he's working on an alternative plan to make things right.
“I will do everything in my power and the best I can to make things right," Vidal said. "I’m not a perfect person, but I'm gonna try and do the best I can."
According to inKind, they haven’t been able to reach Vidal for weeks. They provided KVUE the following statement on their negotiations with Vidal:
“inKind continues to believe in Valentina’s and we are seeking a win-win outcome for the staff, the owners Miguel and Modesty, the landlord and the greater Buda community. There is a clear path forward provided Miguel and Modesty start cooperating more actively with us. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to reach them for weeks. Hopefully they’ll reach out soon so together we can solve this matter.”
