RIVER NORTH — The Bow Truss coffee shop in River North reopened Monday, a few weeks after employees walked off the job over bounced paychecks.
"Everybody was paid," Bow Truss owner Philip Tadros maintained Monday morning from the store at 406 N. Wells St. "I'm trying to do the best I can."
Tadros closed all 10 Bow Truss coffee shops earlier this month after employees walked out over not getting paid. Tadros has since reopened some of his stores, beginning Jan. 19 with a shop in the Loop at 190 S. LaSalle St.
"We'll decide which ones make the most sense" to reopen, Tadros said Monday.
Bow Truss employees said they walked off the job Jan. 12 after months of bounced paychecks. Tadros said the paychecks bounced after business mogul Marcus Lemonis, who once agreed to acquire the Bow Truss mini-chain, soured on the deal and declined to loan Tadros $300,000. That loan would have covered Bow Truss' bills, Tadros said.
Some Bow Truss employees said they were owed as much as $1,000 in wages. Tadros said Monday that all his employees have been paid what they were owed.
One Bow Truss employee who walked out disputed Tadros' account, saying Monday morning that about 10 to 15 workers had yet to get paid. She also said Tadros has been reopening stores with friends or new employees instead of those who walked out.
"So they don't have the same opinions about it as we do," she said. It was unclear who was staffing the reopened River North shop Monday.
Bow Truss was Chicago's biggest independent coffee chain before the walkout. Lemonis, who stars in the "The Profit" on CNBC, has told reporters he sees "no path forward" in his buyout bid after discovering signs of financial mismanagement at the coffee shop chain.
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