A New American fare restaurant at Ooltewah has closed - at least for the time being.
Employees of Wine Down Bistro, 9447 Bradmore Lane, were informed on Friday, it was stated.
This message was posted on the restaurant's Facebook page:
Hello Friends, Family and Loyal Patrons of Wine Down and Neighbor.
We wanted to reach out to you all to thank you for the messages, kind words and outreach sent to us and our staff during this time we are temporarily closed. We’ve had very productive meetings over the past couple of days that have led to opportunities to see you all very soon.
Thank you for your prayers and understanding while we navigate this. We will be sending updates as we have them.
Best Regards,
Marcus & Georgia Garner
The closure comes after a Brooklyn, N.Y., lending firm filed suit against the restaurant operators.
Fenix Capital Funding, LLC sued Georgia and Marcus D. Garner.
The suit says Fenix advanced $125,000 for the restaurant operation on Nov. 9, 2023, in exchange for nine percent of future sales proceeds up to $182,500.
It says that portion of sales proceeds was to be sent by daily ACH transfer.
The Garners also made a personal guaranty of the debt, the suit says.
It claims on July 30 the restaurant owners defaulted by failing to remit portion of sales proceeds leaving a balance of $77,357.