St Charles exchange for sale, may close.

According to this article in Insider Louisville: http://insiderlouisville.com/business/s ... ef-leaves/ St. Charles exchange is up for sale and may close or at least regroup because of their chef. He vented many frustrations and made many accusations on Facebook Monday and quit immediately thereafter.

That's too bad. They have one of the coolest bars in town. And their shrimp and grits were quite nice.

I made some accusations that I should have kept to myself. I was wrong. It was a mistake. At the end of the day my concern was my staff and I getting paid. We were at the point where no vendor would sell us food or booze. The end was coming and I wanted proof we would be compensated. I may or may not have gone about it in the correct way. I chose to stand up to out of town owners and that was definitely not the most popular decision. My facebook post did not shut the doors to St. Charles. Three years of questionable business decisions shut the doors. There is an entire staff looking for work now. Any leads for them would be great. We had a very talented, hardworking and loyal staff. I wish them all the best.

Rick,

If you were so worried about your staff then you wouldn't have thrown the entire business under the bus and stormed out like a petulant child.

Either directly or indirectly you have put all of their jobs at risk.

Keep doing you though. I will make sure to avoid any future businesses you are part of and advise everyone I know to do the same.

You have no idea what you are talking about. I quit because there were only empty promises about getting paid. We screwed over every single vendor in town for thousands. The same group closed their last place with no warning and no payment to staff. We could not even buy food or beverage. BTW no one stormed out like a child. I suggest you get your "facts" straight. I didn't close the business. The place was out of cash and in debt. Simple as that. When I took the job it was with the understanding that all vendors would be paid in full. No one was paid.

Jobs were put at risk by out of town investors who could care less about us and who were unwilling to pay the bills. Not by me. We had a great team but without product to sell we were dead in the water. I'm sorry that you feel the way you do about coming to anyplace i'm at. I would love to meet you in person to discuss. Maybe a coffee or a drink. I let my cooks know in advance that we would more than likely be closing in the next week. I was told to tell no one but I pulled my entire kitchen staff aside and let them know. I was not going to hide behind lies and false stories of mysterious investors. Unfortunately there was no way to turn around three years of bad business decisions. It was not profitable.

There is an entire staff looking for work now. Any leads for them would be great. We had a very talented, hardworking and loyal staff. I wish them all the best.

Like I said, send any one our way (BOH and FOH). Refer to my post on the jobs forum on LHB for more details. We need talented people for more projects.

I may not necessarily agree with the Face Book posting part, but I understand the feeling to protect his co-workers. I appreciate the fact he cares about the vendors, many of them are small local businesses that need every dollar. Employers like this have no honor and they would have probably blindsided the staff. As to Chris's posting - to me, staying silent would have been like protecting the boss when you know he is embezzling company funds. I have no intention "black balling" Rick. I hope he and the rest of the staff find employment soon, they did a good job under less than optimal circumstances.

Rick,

If you were so worried about your staff then you wouldn't have thrown the entire business under the bus and stormed out like a petulant child.

Either directly or indirectly you have put all of their jobs at risk.

Keep doing you though. I will make sure to avoid any future businesses you are part of and advise everyone I know to do the same.

Are you serious? Really? Have you ever put your heart and soul behind a 130 degree line to put out your best effort only to be shot in the foot by your boss? In my humble opinion, Chris M., you are being petulant (and trust me, that's a very mild word for my gut feeling of your comment)!

You think Rick was wrong? Well sir, I praise him for his balls in the matter! Rick Adams is not only a chef friend (of which I am very proud), but he has something that some in the city are lacking....ethics! We need more people like Chef Adams to come forward and expose the s#!t that goes on behind the sacred door! Trust, it ain't all pretty and wrapped up fancy!

Now, I am not directly in the business, however, I know enough chefs (have one as a roommate) and see what goes on to know what's right and what's not! St. Charles, by all accounts, was an implosion waiting to happen. St. Charles has been hit or miss since it opened. They've gone thru chefs like used toilet paper, and the quality has suffered. The truth of the matter is now coming to light by one of their own. We should cheer him on and not damn his honesty.

Rick, those who know the business and how the setups work know your had nothing to do with the demise of St. Charles (be it temporary or permanent). And if they do, they need to go work behind a line for a week and get some perspective!

What Bill said.

This business is a dicey game. You may not succeed.

If you're going to close, pay your staff and let them know that it's time to look for another job.

I wonder how many rent/mortgage payments won't be made this month? I know who's will.

Good on Chef to take a stand. Admittedly, not the best way of going about it- but his heart was in the right place and that should be appreciated.

The vendors will have liens on the sale. The employees will be scrambling to pay their electric bill.

Not to step into the minefield here, but is the restaurant definitely closed as of now? We're bringing out of town clients there for lunch on Wednesday, so I need to know if I should reschedule for elsewhere.

The fact that Rick was even thinking about the vendors at all is enough to put me in his corner every time.

The fact that Rick was even thinking about the vendors at all is enough to put me in his corner every time.

If you can't get product, you can't make food, you can't serve guests. Then you can't get revenue, which means you can't get cash flow, which means you can't pay staff. He made a stand, let's face it, if we can't get product, we can't operate. He just pointed that out.

I hear you, but I've seen a lot of restaurants close and the last thing on anyone's mind was making sure the vendors got their money. That's why I find it remarkable