Kelly’s Brew Pub, located in an old gas station and car dealership on Route 66 in Albuquerque, soon will be acquired by Santa Fe Dining.
During the same week, media outlets reported several current and former workers have filed a class-action lawsuit against Kelly’s Brew Pub, alleging the restaurant and microbrewery violated the city’s minimum-wage ordinance.
Santa Fe Dining owns 10 restaurants, including Chama River Brewing Co., Blue Corn Brewery and Rio Chama. The Albuquerque Journal reports the ownership change probably will be completed by late summer.
“The current owners have done such a great job of establishing it as a locals place to go, the location is amazing, the patio is an absolute homerun, the building and its architecture are just so cool and such a great location for a restaurant and a brewpub,” he said. “The only thing I can tell you that is a mild hangup that everyone has to deal with in Nob Hill is that parking can be a challenge but beyond that, it’s tough to find a reason not to pursue Kellys Brewpub as part of Santa Fe Dining.”
The newspaper said current owners Dennis and Janice Bonfantine plan to retire. Santa Fe Dining stated it won’t make many changes to Kelly’s Brew Pub. It will keep the name.
Meanwhile, the lawsuit was filed on the behalf of seven current or former workers at the restaurant, reported the Artesia Daily Press.
The lawsuit contends that after a November 2012 ballot initiative raised the Albuquerque minimum wage, Kelly’s and the Bonfantines “settled on an unlawful response to the minimum wage increase: servers would pay for it themselves, out of their tips. Starting in 2013, Defendants increased the wage rate that appeared on servers’ paychecks so that Defendants appeared to comply with the new law but required servers to pay the house cash each shift, calculated at 2 percent of their total daily sales, plus $3 per hour they worked on the clock.
“After tipping out, servers sometimes owed more in cash than they had actually earned in cash tips during the shift. When this happened, servers were required to pay the difference from their wallets or their paychecks. When questioned about this ‘tip out’ policy, the Bonfantines and managers explained that Kelly’s needed the money to pay for the minimum wage increase and other business expenses.”
Furthermore, according to the lawsuit, “Kelly’s did not pay servers all of their customers’ credit card tips and instead kept a portion of those tips for themselves. Kelly’s also did not pay servers any wages at all for non-tipped work they performed off-the-clock, such as rolling silverware, kitchen prep, and awaiting table assignments.”
KRQE-TV in Albuquerque also reported about the lawsuit. One attorney said the lost wages probably total hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A higher minimum wage in Albuquerque was approved by voters almost four years ago. Longtime readers may remember Route 66 Malt Shop, which also refused to pay its workers the new minimum wage. It became embroiled in protests and a lawsuit from the city.
Two years later, the city and a former employee settled the lawsuit. A few months after that, the Route 66 Malt Shop lost its lease and closed.
Kelly’s Brew Pub is in the former Jones Motor Co., built in 1939. Kelly’s Brewery bought the building in 1999 and restored many of the original design elements, including Texaco pumps and the original garage doors. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places and remains a city landmark.
(Image of Kelly’s Brew Pub by Tony Hisgett via Flickr)
Had I ever been a customer at Kelly’s Brew Pub (I wasn’t), I would be rather angry to learn that the tip I left for my wait-person was conveyed as straight wages, or that the house simply cheated their employees by pocketing the money, I can’t possibly take my business to such a place,