Customers looking to get a warm meal at the Harvey’s restaurant in Napanee, Ont., have been greeted with a cold reception recently.
The restaurant has been closed since mid-December 2023, reportedly over a dispute between the franchisee and the business’s parent company.
“They just came in and shut the place down, changed the locks and kicked us out,” franchise owner Morgan Rayer told Global News Friday.
Rayer says he was not given prior notice about the lockout and came into work to find a note on the door telling the public the restaurant, which includes a Swiss Chalet, was temporarily closed.
The note, which does not say when the restaurant might reopen, remains taped to the inside of the locked front doors.
“We are looking forward to reopening soon under new management and bringing you a better than ever experience,” the note reads.
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Rayer says the lockout follows a dispute he’s had with Harvey’s parent company Recipe Unlimited over the building’s HVAC unit.
He alleges he was misinformed about the age of the HVAC unit and, when it needed repairs, he decided to take the cost out of the rent he pays Recipe Unlimited.
It’s an arrangement Rayer says was given the green light by the parent company.
“We talked to them, we explained that we were doing that, they agreed,” he said.
“Everyone seemed to think that it was reasonable and normal.”
An email from Global News requesting an interview or comment from Recipe Unlimited has not been returned.
Now, as the lockout stretches into another week, Rayer says he’s worried about how it’s affecting his 26 employees.
Vanessa Gariepy, a single mother who works as an assistant manager at the restaurant, says while the closure would have been difficult under any circumstances, in this case the timing couldn’t have been worse.
“It was 12 days before Christmas — everyone was just shocked,” she said, adding that losing the income stream has been difficult.
“My daughter works here too so that’s both of us – that’s all of our money.”
While Gariepy says she’s waiting for a resolution and is hopeful she and her daughter can return to work soon, Rayer says other employees will need to find other jobs soon.
In the meantime, he says he’s continuing to fight the action in court.
“We’re trying to reopen but it’s been three or four weeks now,” he said. “A lot of the employees – hopefully – are going to find other work.”
— with files from Fawwaz Muhammad-Yusuf
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