Dog Haus employees say they were not paid; Murfreesboro restaurant still closed

Nancy DeGennaro | Murfreesboro Daily News Journal

Doors remained closed at Dog Haus Biergarten in Murfreesboro on Wednesday, but management promised on Facebook that the restaurant would reopen soon.

Company officials at Dog Haus corporate headquarters in Pasadena, California, are still looking into the reason for the closure.

“We’re absolutely unsure what’s going on there,” said C.J. Ramirez, director of marketing with the California-based restaurant chain. “We’ve reached out to the ownership … but we haven‘t heard back from them.”

A post on the Murfreesboro restaurant's Facebook page cited "maintenance issues" as the reason for closure.

But Amanda Blalock, an employee at Dog Haus since it opened in late February on Northwest Broad Street, said the reason is because workers are not being paid. Other Dog Haus employees contacted The Daily News Journal to corroborate that story, although no one else has been willing to speak out publicly.

The Daily News Journal has been unable to reach the franchise owner, although a public relations firm working with that owner is looking into the matter.

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Typically, employees got paid every two weeks, and checks were supposed to be delivered on Friday, July 20.

“But no checks came and they said we’d definitely get paid (July 21), that it was a (delivery) problem,” Blalock said.

According to Blalock, workers still didn't have checks after that July 21 meeting, but were paid on July 24. In the weeks following, problems began to arise with vendors, including utilities on the verge of being shut off.

And then payday rolled around again on Aug. 3 — and still no checks, Blalock said.

“I live paycheck to paycheck," said Blalock, who has since found another job. "I have bills. ... I don’t have any extra money in the bank."

On its Facebook page Tuesday, the restaurant replied to a comment, saying: "We’re temporarily closed due to maintenance and are expecting to reopen midweek."

Ramirez said corporate is unaware of any remodeling or maintenance issues at the Murfreesboro location. Sales at the restaurant don't seem to be a problem, he added.

Dog Haus Biegarten's corporate team is "still gathering all the facts," Ramirez said, but no statement had been issued Wednesday afternoon.

Reach reporter Nancy De Gennaro at 615-278-5148 or degennaro@dnj.com, and follow her on Twitter @NanDeGennaro.