Financial Harassment

Like I mentioned earlier, rent was due on the first of the month and our contract gave very specific instructions about mailing the checks to Damon. Not only did we do that, we set up automatic payments from our bank account to ensure the rent would be paid on time every month.

I guess when you have a lot of money, managing the money doesn’t seem very important. I have never worked with any company or organization that was as bad at managing money as the local hockey team. Or maybe it was just harassment. I don’t know, but I sure got tired of proving we had paid our rent.

The first week in May 2015, Todd came to me and said he needed to collect all the rent since we had opened. I was taken aback because we had paid all of the rent, so I asked why. He said I had not paid any rent since we signed the contract and he needed that money. If you remember, I also told you earlier that Todd had told me to pay the rent according to the contract and not give the checks to him. I guess he forgot, and assumed we hadn’t paid because he had not seen the checks. I explained that we had auto-payments to Damon as the contract specified and we had paid all the rent – February was paid when we signed the contract (Todd should have know that as he was there), March was a free month according to the contract, and April and May had been auto-paid. He was glad we paid and went on his way. Seems like he would have a way to know about payments – a report, communication with accounting, or something.

In October or November, they accused us of not paying September rent. In January, corporate accused us of not paying December 2015; and then November 2015. Each time, I sent copies of our bank statement showing the money had been sent in plenty of time and the screen showing the checks had been cashed. Turns out, the missing payments were months before and each time we sent a check accounting would apply it to a previous month making it look like we paid late all the time. If they had just told us the same month a check was late, we could have stopped payment and resent right away. I have no idea what happened to our checks – lost in the mail, lost in Damon’s department, lost in accounting, thrown away to sabotage our business. At this point, we had been accused of not paying our rent 7 months out of the first 11 months in business. Their accounting couldn’t tell us when things had gone awry, so I had to go back through all the payments to find the checks that had not been cashed and replace them. I think it turned out to be July, October, and November. Accounting appreciated my work and repaid us by having a team lunch at our cafe in March 2016. Accounting has the nicest people in the organization.

Around the first week of January 2016, Todd came to me and said we had paid the wrong amount for our January rent. He suggested that if I checked my contract, I would know the rent went up and I should have paid the 2016 amount. I had to remind him the contract stated the rent increase began each FEBRUARY and I had already changed the auto payment to the new amount for next month.

In September 2016, Todd informed me there was another missing rent check and wanted proof of payment February through September. I reminded him we had already provided proof of February payment when we were researching November and December payments. How can you run a business when you’re constantly researching paperwork to prove you pay your rent? So this time, I took my time doing the research. It’s ridiculous that a company as big as a national hockey team can have this much trouble managing money. And why is it they don’t know when things went awry??? Seems to me all they have to do is look for the first month the rent was credited after the late-date. And why don’t they contact you that month so you can take care of it right away??? We were in our busy season and I did my research only when there was spare time, so I took several months to get back to them. Turns out, the March 2016 check had been lost. Meanwhile, Todd asked me to start handing our checks to him instead of following the instructions in the contract. I did, but I got a receipt from the person I handed the check to, as Todd wasn’t always there. I wanted proof we paid on time so no one could accidentally lose the check and say we didn’t pay or hold the check until after the grace period to make it look like we paid late. These people obviously cannot be trusted with money. But we knew that, because these are some of the same people that stole from us.

Pre-Contract Discussions

I would like to tell you this story has a happy ending, but it doesn’t. At least not for me. Even now as I share my story, my heart aches and I have bad dreams from all the feelings that come to the surface as I type. I still truly believe if Pierre had engaged and done the things he said, we would have been successful and made some money. You’ll hear more about that in future chapters. Right now, it’s important for me to share a conversation with Todd, the general manager of the building.

Once Robbie and I had a copy of the contract and were deciding whether to sign, I was looking at the space one more time. Todd and I were walking across the lobby towards the snack bar. He encouraged me to follow the instructions in the contract about how to pay our rent. Todd explained that it was best to mail a check to Damon at the corporate office as the contract stated, rather than handing our check to Todd as some tenants had done. Todd went on to say that paying him was an inconvenience as he would have to carry the check over to the corporate offices himself and he preferred not to do that. It made sense. Why wouldn’t you follow the instructions in the contract?

Once again, I brought up adding exclusive food rights to our contract. Todd adamantly refused. I wasn’t happy, but Pierre had assured us he had talked to a lot of skaters and they would buy from us if we carried healthier food. So I felt we could win over the skaters to buy food from us. It’s my understanding the rinks enforced ‘no outside food or drink’ when they were in charge of the snack bars, but once they contracted out the food space they didn’t want to be bothered with policing the food situation. I don’t know if that’s true, but it sounds likely. Continuing with the cafe without exclusivity was probably the biggest mistake I made and you will hear more about it later as we continue with the story.

Todd also told me that he would add our cafe to his letters to the hockey teams when they were coming for a tournament. He said some teams might want to schedule a party or team lunch while they were here. Todd also said once we got our liquor license we should offer a deal to the adult teams to have pizza and beer in the locker rooms at the end of their games. These sounded like great ideas and good support from our landlord.

Pierre warned Robbie and me over and over that Todd was not to be trusted. I believed Pierre, but I wasn’t overly concerned because I didn’t think we would have to deal with Todd much as long as we paid our rent on time. Another huge mistake on my part. That will become quite clear as we continue on with the story. I lost so much in this endeavor – money, dignity, friends, confidence, time, health, etc. To this day, it takes everything I’ve got just to walk into that building. Thank goodness I no longer have any reason to go there.

Get It In Writing

Surprise, surprise, the rink called to see if we were still interested in opening a restaurant. The big food service company had moved out on January 1, 2015 as planned and now the snack bar was empty and closed. Pierre, Robbie and I talked and decided we were interested. Pierre suggested we use his CPA because the CPA would do our books and payroll for a reasonable monthly fee. All 3 of us met with the CPA and discussed the plan. We would each put in $12,500.00 to start the restaurant. We agreed upon a name. The CPA suggested he set us up as an LLC.

The rink gave us a 5 year contract. For some reason they had put in the contract that we had to open as a Great Outdoors franchise. I was surprised that was in the contract. We explained we would be a pizza and burger place like all previous food providers. The rink was hesitant at first but agreed. I don’t know why they cared. Pierre still wanted to remain invisible, so Robbie and I would sign the contract. The rink had one stipulation. We had to open in time for a February hockey tournament. If we signed the contract, we would have 2 weeks to open a restaurant.

I had researched retail space in 2008 so I believed Pierre when he told us the rent was a good deal. It looked like a great deal. For a monthly fee, all utilities were included and we could use all the equipment in the space. There were 2 pizza ovens, 2 fryers, a burger griddle, an ice machine, refrigerators, a walk-in refrigerator freezer, a full bar with 2 stations and 2 taps, about 20 tables with 4 chairs each and bar stools, a Dr Pepper soda fountain, lots of shelves and cabinets, a 3 compartment sink, hand washing stations, and plenty of work space. No build-out would be needed.

Then we committed the ultimate sin. We didn’t put it in writing. Everything was happening so fast, we didn’t draw a contract with our plan to put in $12,500.00 each and each person’s responsibilities. The CPA would set up our LLC with each of us as 1/3 partners and I’m sure he put something in his hard-bound notebook as we described our plan, but we never wrote down our plan and signed it. WE NEVER WROTE DOWN THE PLAN!