Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Employees of Napanee’s Harvey’s/Swiss Chalet gathered outside the locked-up restaurant on Friday, brandishing signs calling for head office to give them their jobs back.
The crowd of four represent a small section of the 26 total employees who are caught in the crossroads of a contractual dispute between the franchise (Recipe Unlimited, the parent company of Harvey’s) and the franchisees (Mishelle Freitas-Rayer and her husband Morgan Rayer who operate the restaurant under First of Five Incorporated).
The restaurant has remained closed since Dec. 13, when Recipe Unlimited locked the doors, arguing the franchisees had defaulted on their franchise agreement.
Among the disputed issues are concerns the franchisees have with the building, 1 Richmond Blvd., which Recipe Unlimited leases from S.J.M Corporation Ontario. The Rayers say they were misled about the age of the HVAC unit on top of the building, which is in turn much older than they were originally told and has been subject to costly repairs since they began operating the Harveys/Swiss Chalet in 2014. They have also raised concerns about the plumbing of the building, which they say has been an issue on several occasions due to inadequate infrastructure. The Rayers have had to pay for the HVAC repairs of out pocket, which they argue should have been subtracted from money owed to their sublease, per their agreement. More recently, the franchise has performed multiple operational audits, which the company says have registered as fails. Morgan disagrees with their findings while pointing out that they have never failed an independent health and safety inspection and remain one of the highest rated Harvey’s franchises in the province for customer satisfaction on Google. Morgan says it wasn’t until after First of Five Inc. retained legal counsel that they were provided notice of default as a result of an operational audit.
Morgan says he was just as surprised as his staff was when he pulled up in the parking lot of Dec. 13 and saw members from Harvey’s head office taking steps to lock up the restaurant.
“Some of these people have families and they rely on this money for their rent and support for their children. It was a really big gut punch to us,” said Morgan.
He also noted the holiday season is a prime time for the businesses which helps them balance their yearly budget.
While out of work employees picketed last Friday, their bosses attended a virtual civil court session in hopes a judge would grant them the immediate right to resume control of the restaurant. The judgement of that case remains pending as of Tuesday. The Rayers remain hopeful they’ll be able to re-open within the next few weeks if their appeal is successful-though more legal battles remain after that. In the mean time, employees are left unsure when-or if-their jobs will return.
A request for comment from Recipe Unlimited went unanswered.