Yahoo Finance ‘What do we want? Wages!’ Former workers say this North End restaurant hasn’t paid them
During the Friday night dinner service at Hyde Park’s Apericena, more than a dozen protesters — a mix of former employees and their supporters — picketed on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. They chanted and held up signs decrying what they called the restaurant’s “wage theft,” telling patrons they shouldn’t be supporting the business.
It was an escalation of a controversy that has been simmering since March, when former employee Chanie Moser posted in a local Facebook group about her fight to get paid. Her post generated over 200 comments — several from other former employees with grievances of their own, along with responses from the owner and some current employees in support of the restaurant.
In recent weeks, the Idaho Statesman has spoken with 12 current and former employees who worked at Apericena (ah-perry-SAY-nah) or its sister restaurant, Bistro d’Helene, between June 2023 and March 2024. Some said they received their pay weeks late, and only after making multiple requests. Others said they have never received any pay at all.
Two former employees have filed small-claims lawsuits against owner Danielle Christine, while three others reported filing complaints with the Idaho Department of Labor.
In interviews and documents shared with the Statesman, Christine largely denied the former workers’ allegations. She traced many of the problems they raised to what she alleged were errors by U.S. Bank, which she said sent her business faulty checkbooks and ultimately — when Christine chose to transition to a new bank — began to shut down her existing account weeks ahead of its official closure.
She decried what she called the “misinformation” being shared online.
“I’ve never been in a circumstance like this, and I don’t understand how it got so bad and how it got so ugly,” she told the Statesman by phone. “It feels like a movie … like pitchforks and flame-throwers. The misinformation that is being perpetuated and shared when it’s not even true … and people are just eating it up.”
Employee cites ‘a huge red flag’
Over time, conversations with former workers at Apericena start to take on a familiar cadence.
Several, who had extensive experience in the Boise service industry, said they were excited to start working at the restaurant, a high-end spot at 1607 N. 13th St. that advertises its focus on “organic, local ingredients and seasonality.” They were eager to join a woman-led company that says it “seeks to provide long-term staffing solutions” and put “the wellness of our employees first.”
Christine, the owner, was eager to “recalibrate” the “broken system” of the restaurant industry after COVID-19, according to the website of her company, La Bonte Brands, which owns both restaurants. Former employees said they were eager to be part of that movement.
But quickly, they say, red flags started to stack up. Julia Friess, who worked as a server at Apericena for two weeks in March, started to get suspicious when her manager told her about an all-staff walkout during the Thanksgiving dinner service. On Friess’ second day, she was alarmed to see a former employee come into the restaurant looking for her check.
“It was a moment for me, like, ‘uh oh, this isn’t very good,’ ” Friess said.
Friess said she grew increasingly nervous after hearing stories about Apericena from friends in the service industry.
“Every day that I would come in, it would be a new problem … (managers) would have some spiteful employee that they would tell me about,” she said. “I found it hard to believe there were that many spiteful employees for no reason.”
Friess said she quit after two weeks and did ultimately receive her paycheck on April 25, more than three weeks after her March 31 departure.
Christine said she was not aware that Friess had received her check late. She told the Statesman that Friess’ check was available for pickup within five business days of Friess’ departure, and she shared payroll documentation that showed that the check was mailed to Friess on April 15. Idaho law requires that the employer must pay or make available all wages within 10 business days of termination, though that is shortened to 48 weekday hours if workers request their wages sooner, which Friess did not.
Months earlier, Keegan Reynolds was waiting tables at Apericena when, he said, four former employees showed up looking for their paychecks.
“That was a huge red flag,” Reynolds said. He said his first check from the restaurant, where he worked for three months, wound up bouncing. His second came through but was missing about $300 in tips, he said. When he asked about these problems, he said, “It was one excuse after another.” He stayed for three months, then quit.
Christine told the Statesman that Reynolds “has been paid in full for all wages due to him.” She did not share payroll documentation related to his case.
Workers take owner to court
In January, Moser — the employee who posted about her experience on Facebook — overheard a former employee call the restaurant, screaming that Christine was “ghosting” him on his final paycheck, Moser said. On her third day, she said, another employee, Alvaro Roberto Chacon Morales, told Moser he hadn’t been paid in six weeks and asked for her help writing a text message in English to Christine to ask about the status of his pay.
Two workers took Christine to court. In early March, Chacon Morales filed a small-claims lawsuit. Ella Hoffhine — the employee Friess had seen coming in to ask for her check — also sued in March. Both cases are pending, though Hoffhine has since received a paycheck. She sued in hopes of securing damages for the time spent waiting for her pay, she told the Statesman.
“I have had to fight Danielle to get paid,” Hoffhine said. “For two months, I’ve sent her probably 25 emails. I’ve gone into the restaurant, like, five times. I think I’ve spent more hours trying to get paid than I ever spent working for her.”
Christine told the Statesman that she mailed Hoffhine’s check one day after Hoffhine’s departure and demand for her wages within 48 hours. In court documents the Statesman received through a public records request, Christine wrote that Hoffhine was “demanding a random $5000.00 in fees that are not and have not ever been owed to her.”
Christine told the Statesman she was unaware of Chacon Morales’s case until the Statesman brought it to her attention and had not received any legal documents related to the case. She said he had been paid his wages.
Three former employees reported filing complaints with the Idaho Department of Labor. Connie Bearden, who worked for Apericena for two weeks in December, said Christine hasn’t responded to the department’s demands, and she hasn’t received her money.
Bearden said she was never paid for her work. She shared emails from mid-January in which she asked Christine about the status of her pay and asked for her check to be sent by mail. Christine said Bearden’s check was mailed to the address provided, though she did not provide payroll documentation.
In Moser’s case, she was awarded over $950 for her wages, tips and damages for the delayed payment.
“I paid for a babysitter so I could work FOR FREE for the five days that I did, and that woman never paid me,” Moser posted on Facebook. “I literally took a loss getting a part-time job to help me pay the bills.”
As of Tuesday, April 30, the Department of Labor had not fulfilled a public records request the Statesman made on April 16 seeking documentation of complaints against Christine’s businesses.
With checks bouncing, is history repeating itself?
Christine opened Apericena in 2022 after the previous restaurant in the space, Hyde House, closed after checks bounced, the Statesman previously reported. At the time, Christine posted about her excitement on the restaurant’s Instagram page.
“I am honored to have the privilege of taking over the previous Hyde House and restoring such a beautiful piece of Hyde Park’s history, notwithstanding its unfortunate close,” she wrote. “I have been happy crying for at least a month.”
Christine told the Statesman that the situation now — the Facebook thread, the pickets, the Department of Labor claims — results from a misunderstanding that has blown out of proportion. She blamed much of the situation on what she said was a problem with U.S. Bank beginning in late 2023.
At that time, she said, the bank issued duplicate checkbooks to Christine’s business, causing checks to bounce for “insufficient funds” when workers tried to deposit a check with a number that had already been used. In the spring, she decided to move her business to another bank. But in the weeks leading up to the closure of the U.S. Bank account in early April, Christine said, the issues worsened.
“For a company that does still rely very heavily on paper checks, this was very stressful for us,” she said. “It wasn’t something that we were enjoying either, and it’s not something that we were intentionally doing by any means. It just was the reality of the situation.”
Jake Holtrop, a spokesperson for U.S. Bank, told the Statesman via email that he could not comment on specific clients’ cases, but that duplicate checks being issued would not affect the availability of funds in an account or cause checks to bounce due to “insufficient funds.”
In statements and documents shared with the Statesman, Christine focused on Hoffhine’s and Moser’s complaints, which have received more public attention because of Moser’s Facebook post and Hoffhine’s role in organizing Friday’s picket.
Moser and Christine offer diverging accounts of Moser’s departure. Moser said she was written off the schedule after a conversation with the chef about another employee’s unpaid wages. She shared an email she sent to her managers that night confirming that she was ready to resign anyway and requested they mail her final check to her home.
Managers replied to that email seeking to confirm whether she was leaving for good but did not acknowledge her request for the check to be mailed. When Moser did not receive her check, she filed a claim with the Department of Labor.
In an interview, shared documents and comments responding to Moser’s Facebook post, Christine denied that Moser was removed from the schedule, saying that the scheduling program was just down temporarily. She said Moser’s check has been awaiting pickup inside the restaurant for months.
“Chandler’s communications were not with me directly during this time, and had I known her request was for her check to be mailed, I would have personally ensured this was taken care of,” Christine told the Statesman. “This was a lesson for me.”
Idaho Labor rules in worker’s favor
Because the Department of Labor ruled in Moser’s favor, Christine now owes Moser’s wages to the department, which will in turn pay her. But Moser is doubtful that the department will be able to obtain the money she is owed. She estimates she’s spent almost 25 hours of her own time trying to get paid.
“I need that money. That’s my money. I want my paycheck. I got my tips on it. I earned that money,” she said. “I’m a single mom, so I’ve got a lot on my plate … I get no child support. I have my son 24/7. I cannot afford to have someone steal … from me.”
Moser did not want to go to the restaurant in person for her check because she was concerned that the situation could escalate or become unsafe, she told the Statesman.
Christine told the Statesman that she does not owe any current or former employees any money. She expressed surprise upon learning that there were four active Department of Labor liens against her business filed in March and April. A fifth was added on April 26. The department places a lien if an employer fails to pay the worker what the department has awarded.
Christine expressed concern that the department may not have accurate contact information for her.
“The Labor Department has been contacted to obtain details on any outstanding case [sic] that require our attention,” she wrote in a Google Doc shared with the Statesman. “At the end of the day, many lessons have been learned that ensure we will not find ourselves in this position again.”
Christine wrote in a news release on Friday that she has “personally engaged” with an “in-house investigation” into Moser’s and Hoffhine’s claims and “can say with confidence that the claims have been thoroughly researched and disproved.” The release was published on the restaurant’s Instagram page in response to online posts promoting the picket that evening.
Some current employees back owner. One cites ‘kind heart’
Christine told the Statesman she has nearly 30 employees, none of whom have resigned since this controversy began. She shared four letters of support from current employees and managers.
“I have personally witnessed multiple previous staff members take advantage of Danielle’s kind heart,” Makena McGinley, Apericena’s general manager, wrote. Christine “cares about her employees, her customers, and her businesses on a level that I have seen with no other company.”
Anastasia Roxby, an employee of both Apericena and Bistro d’Helene, wrote that “our employees have continued to be paid no matter the circumstance.”
“Danielle has expressed an impressive amount of transparency and vulnerability, even when she faced the turmoil brought on by those who want to see our company fail out of spite,” she wrote. “Even still, our leadership has consistently been in a position where employees are filing unsubstantiated labor claims at any chance they get.”
The Statesman asked Christine: Why are so many former employees coming out of the woodwork now with pay-related grievances?
“The thing that I’ve learned about this industry specifically is that just about every other employee who parts from the company, for whatever reason, ends up leaving in just an unbelievably aggressive way,” Christine said. “Something that I’ve noticed with restaurant staff members is they really love to burn the bridge on their way out. And I can’t speak for their decision-making … the only thing that I can do is take care of the team that I do have to the very best of my ability.”
James Keck, an investigator for the federal Department of Labor, was present at Friday’s protest as an observer. Jose Carnevali, the department ‘s deputy regional director of public affairs, confirmed via email that the department was investigating the former employees’ claims but declined to provide additional information, citing the ongoing investigation.
Sally Krutzig contributed reporting.
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