“They said they would pay me 50 cents on the dollar so we sued,” owner Laurent Dupal told The Post. “As a small vendor, it’s crushing.”Īlso suing last month was Ceci Cela Patisserie of Manhattan, which claims it’s owed more than $70,000. “They told me repeatedly that the funds would be in my account the next day or that the check was in the mail and I was never paid,” said Gianopulos, who sued Dean & Deluca last month. New York-based bakery Elenis claims it is owed $86,000 for the custom-designed cookies it shipped Dean & Deluca over the holiday period.Īfter 15 years as a supplier, it hasn’t shipped the store a cookie since December, says owner Eleni Gianopulos. It’s a painful reckoning for a grocer that, after opening its first store in Soho in 1977, earned the nickname “museum of fine food,” and claimed to be the first in the US to sell radicchio, balsamic vinegar and sun-dried tomatoes. Other store closures occurred under the radar.ĭean & DeLuca is putting their food on stageĭean & DeLuca president Laura Lendrum - who was hired last summer after a stint as president of Ralph Lauren - told The Post in a statement that the company is “renewing our focus on our New York City and Napa Valley flagship stores as well as our e-commerce business.” Last month, a landlord in Charlotte kicked Dean & DeLuca out for not paying three months worth of rent, which amounted to $96,000. Plans for a swanky store in London got canceled as Dean & DeLuca was forced into a settlement with a landlord, sources said.
Those included one near Grand Central Terminal where employees would be referred to as “cast members,” delivering food with a theatrical flourish.
Last fall, Dean & DeLuca also withdrew from three leases in Manhattan before the stores opened, The Post reported exclusively. In addition to pulling out of the PGA deal, the company has since closed four stores in Charlotte, North Caroline, and Wichita, Kansas, where the storied grocer is headquartered now. Nevertheless, Dean & DeLuca last fall hired restructuring firm Emerald Capital Advisors. The company says it is “100 percent committed” to that contract. Last year, the grocer signed a six-year deal to be a sponsor at the US Open, including signage at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Dean & DeLuca recently backed out of it, only two years into the contract. “But in the process he lost focus on the core business - including keeping the store shelves stocked.”Ĭostly distractions have included a six-year sponsorship deal with the PGA Tour’s Fort Worth, Texas, Invitational. “He wanted to turn Dean & DeLuca into the next Whole Foods,” a source said of Techakraisri. Instead, Dean & DeLuca’s money-losing parent has shrunk the chain to just 18 stores from 42, including four in Manhattan and nine licensed stores overseas. The luxury-obsessed real-estate mogul - who bought Dean & DeLuca even as he poured cash into building Thailand’s tallest skyscraper in the middle of a financial crisis - had envisioned a New York Stock Exchange listing this year, with 100 outlets in the US and nearly 100 more in 15 countries abroad.
acquired the chain in 2014 for $140 million. The company’s cash crunch has intensified in recent months as it retreats from an extravagant expansion plan spearheaded by Sorapoj Techakraisri, a 40-year-old Thai property tycoon whose firm Pace Development Corp. The 41-year-old gourmet grocer has been drastically downsizing its chain nationwide, quietly closing stores, stiffing landlords and fending off lawsuits from angry suppliers who say they haven’t been paid for their pricey pastries, sources told The Post.
0 kommentar(er)
