For even the most audacious restaurateur, it was a bold vision.

His name was Mark White, he told the media, and in late 2018, he announced a plan to open five restaurants in one year in San Francisco. He’d had four successful restaurants in New York, he said, though he declined to name them. And great business partners, he added, but wouldn’t name them, either.

In May 2019, the first restaurant, Cook Shoppe, opened in the Castro neighborhood. Four months later, it abruptly closed after one of his business partners was arrested. Two other restaurants, also in the Castro, were in the works but now appear to be in limbo.

More than a month after its closure, some former Cook Shoppe employees say they have yet to be paid, and two former vendors who say they are owed money have filed breach of contract lawsuits. But the biggest question many have these days is: Just who is Mark White? And what exactly was his role at Cook Shoppe and other ventures?

An exploration of the entrepreneur’s past reveals a complicated web of changing identities, short-lived businesses, bounced checks and other mysteries about the mysterious Mr. White.

Before moving to San Francisco, White lived in Los Angeles and went by what he says is his real name, Michael Esposito.

He and his business and apparent romantic partner, Barrett Walters, opened several Los Angeles businesses that left people out thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, according to 13 lawsuits and interviews with 13 former employees, clients and acquaintances. While Esposito’s name didn’t appear on official organizing documents for these businesses, former employees and clients say he portrayed himself as an owner.

In the lawsuits, people said they’re owed roughly $180,000. Former employees, clients and other associates told The Chronicle they are owed an additional $205,000 in lost wages, unpaid rent and unfulfilled catering gigs.

Court filings allege that one of the catering companies Esposito was linked to didn’t fulfill contracts at least seven times, while one bride filed a police report for theft when the company allegedly canceled on her wedding day.

In an interview with The Chronicle, Esposito admitted to doing some of the things former clients and employees allege he did, and denied others. He said he used the alias Mark White in San Francisco because he didn’t want to be connected to the “business failure” he experienced in Los Angeles.

“I’m not going to stand here and sell you some story that I’m a victim, that I’m this and that, because I’m not,” Esposito said. “It became a mess really fast.”

Now, the fates of the promised Castro restaurants are unclear after the arrest of one of Cook Shoppe’s partners, Lawrence Tonner, who was held in San Francisco County Jail for more than a month because of an outstanding warrant for violating parole in New York. He was released the first week of October. He told The Chronicle he had permission from his parole officer to live in California and that he believes he should have never been arrested in the first place.

How this story was reported Staff writer Janelle Bitker spent one month reporting this story, supervised by four editors in The Chronicle’s Features and Investigative departments. She interviewed 21 individuals and examined court documents, state business records, liquor license records and arrest records.

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Tonner said he might open a different restaurant in the Cook Shoppe space at 215 Church St. and possibly revisit the other Church Street restaurants he planned, Gramercy Park, and a spin-off, Gramercy Park To-Go. Esposito said he originally planned to move to New York by the end of October but now might reconsider to help Tonner in San Francisco.

Former employees described Esposito as a charming, confident businessman who lured people in with his promise of wealth — such as an offer of $25,000 for two months of public relations work, according to documents reviewed by The Chronicle.

“He seemed cool at first, like some rich guy who wanted to do his own thing,” said Charles M. Gerlach, a former employee in Los Angeles. “He was very convincing in that: dressed well, had an air about him.”

While there are some state business records of Tonner and Walters, who could not be reached for this story, Esposito has managed to float through the state relatively undetected. No one The Chronicle interviewed knew of any social media accounts he used. Neither of his names is on any of the business filings or permits for Cook Shoppe — instead, the documents list Tonner and Johnny Diiorio, whom Tonner described as an old friend living in New York.

Past associates who have wondered about Esposito’s identity have shared the same single photo of Esposito that ran in a Los Angeles magazine with one another when swapping stories. Cook Shoppe’s former social media manager, Allie Tong, said she once took a photo with him and shared it as an Instagram story, which disappeared after 24 hours. She said Esposito asked her to delete the original off her phone because “he gained a bunch of weight.”

After Tonner’s arrest and Cook Shoppe’s closure, which were originally reported by Hoodline, Esposito changed his story about the restaurant. In a text message, he told employees he was never the restaurant’s owner. Tonner was, he said, while he had merely been a consultant, and he was resigning that post immediately.

“I have no insight into what will happen to this or any of (Tonner’s) projects in California, as I am no longer working for or with him or his projects,” Esposito, posing as White, said in the text, sent days after the restaurant closed.

But former employees said Esposito distributed the staff’s final checks and did other things an owner would do.

“He was there at the restaurant every day. A consultant wouldn’t normally do that,” Tong said.

Some staff believed his story. Rhonda Richards, who had been Cook Shoppe’s hospitality director, said she saw a close, almost father-son relationship between Esposito and Tonner. Complications with the final pay after the arrest of Tonner, who previously signed all the checks, made sense to her, she said.

Esposito “has got this really awesome, quirky personality. If you were to put him in a ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ sort of thing, he’s the smartest voice in the room,” she said in mid-September, about two weeks after the restaurant closed. “I would work for Mark again.”

Esposito told The Chronicle that telling people he owned Cook Shoppe was a mistake.

Tong said she was already on high alert before the restaurant closed. She said she tried for weeks to get paid for two months of work, only to finally receive a check that bounced. Two former employees also said their checks bounced.

Since Cook Shoppe closed, former vendors have begun filing lawsuits in San Francisco County Superior Court against Cook Shoppe for breach of contract. Bi-Rite Restaurant Supply Co. sued for $61,483. Oakville Produce Partners sued for $18,998.

But confusion remains around exactly who to sue. Both Cook Shoppe-related lawsuits name Mark White and Johnny Diiorio. Tonner would go by “Johnny” at the restaurant, and sometimes Esposito would pretend to be Tonner, according to former employees.

“Since Mark White isn’t even a real person and I have no idea who he really is, it’s hard to go after him,” Tong said.

Esposito said that he and Tonner used different names to get things done faster. In other words, because Tonner’s name was on official business documents, Esposito would sometimes pretend to be Tonner with city officials. Since Diiorio supposedly was dealing with the alcohol permit but living in New York, it was easier for Tonner to pretend to be Diiorio. Attempts to reach Diiorio were unsuccessful.

“It wasn’t anything as nefarious as people seem to think,” Esposito said.

Now that Tonner is out of jail, he said he’s working to get former Cook Shoppe employees paid as well as set up a payment plan for vendors.

“The goal and the mission behind Cook Shoppe was never to hoodwink people,” he said.

The frustrations of former Cook Shoppe workers were echoed by nine former clients and employees of businesses Esposito was linked to in Los Angeles. When they tried to get their money, these people said, Esposito gave excuses and then seemingly vanished.

In May 2016, Esposito laid out plans to open a new Beverly Hills location of Paris Commune, a restaurant that had a decades-long run in New York before closing in 2011. The restaurant never opened. Carlos Torres, the publicist for the project, said Esposito insisted on keeping his name out of press materials. Instead, Torres referred to him as “a well-respected and prominent restaurateur.”

“I literally created press releases and contacted media for a grand opening that was never going to happen,” he said. Esposito said he doesn’t remember Torres’ role as a publicist.

Later, in September 2016, Walters launched Zen Craft, a catering business and wedding planning agency, in Los Angeles, according to business registration documents filed with the state. Esposito described Zen Craft as his business as well, although his name was not formally attached to it. In interviews with The Chronicle and in court filings, couples say the company ruined their weddings.

Screenshots of Zen Craft’s now-defunct website show that it listed nearly 20 awards, including from the James Beard Foundation and Martha Stewart Weddings. Esposito told clients and media that he had graduated from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in New York. The Chronicle couldn’t confirm that Zen Craft won any of the awards it claimed. A representative of the culinary school said it has no records of a graduate matching the description of Esposito.

In several instances, Zen Craft canceled on its clients at the last minute or didn’t fulfill contracts, then did not issue refunds, according to lawsuits and interviews with clients. Esposito, however, said Zen Craft canceled on only three clients out of more than 800 and issued refunds when warranted.

In 2017, Esteban and Carla Meliton Rivas hired Zen Craft to cater their August 2018 wedding at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. They paid Zen Craft $19,000 in installments for the event, according to a lawsuit they filed last year.

In June 2018, about two months before the wedding, the church’s lawyers sent Zen Craft a cease-and-desist letter stating Esposito and Walters were no longer allowed on church property. The church, also named in the Rivas’ lawsuit, declined to comment.

But the Rivases said they did not learn about Zen Craft’s ban from the church until three days before their wedding. They rushed to hire another caterer, spending an additional $18,000, according to their lawsuit.

At least two former Zen Craft employees have sued the company or Esposito for unpaid wages: Driver Fidel Gomez didn’t get paid for 33 days of work, according to a claim he filed with the state labor commissioner last year, which awarded him $19,475. Timothy Brice, a chef who worked for Zen Craft for about one month, also filed a claim for unpaid wages and was awarded $18,797.

Six former employees and clients in Los Angeles said Esposito and Walters were difficult to track down because they would rapidly change offices and apartments, and frequently phone numbers, though Esposito denied doing this. At least two landlords in Southern California have sued Zen Craft for unpaid rent.

The men ultimately drew the attention of law enforcement. In 2018, the Burbank Police Department opened an investigation after the landlord of a wedding venue Esposito, Walters and Tonner began to launch called the Porch at Digiland reported he had not been paid rent, according to public information officer Derek Green.

“They rented this building, and the check bounced, and then they bounced,” Green said.

Esposito also branched out beyond the hospitality industry, but with similar results.

In 2015, he hired more than 100 staffers and freelance writers for a news website called Newsaratti before closing the operation abruptly four months later, according to more than 150 emails and documents reviewed by The Chronicle. Three former employees who spoke to The Chronicle say they were never paid.

Ben Gross, a Newsaratti writer and editor, said it seemed like a legitimate operation; there were meetings, a Slack channel, an email server and prime office space in downtown Los Angeles, he said. Yet no state business records for it could be found.

“The biggest question I had was, what was the point?” he said, adding that not paying employees doesn’t necessarily create income.

Esposito described Newsaratti as “a pipe dream.”

“The reason it didn’t work out was because I couldn’t figure out how to monetize it,” he said. “There were probably some people who were not paid.”

Cook Shoppe, once decked out with hanging plants, spiky chandeliers and fake grass, is now shuttered.

The windows of the abandoned Gramercy Park and Gramercy Park To-Go across the street are also covered, but the two adjoining spaces appear to be in the midst of construction, with walls stripped to the studs. Random dining room chairs and a few tables are spread throughout the room, and blue milk crates on the floor hold bottles of beer, liquor and wine.

In a phone call with The Chronicle, Esposito reminisced about drag brunches and other good times at Cook Shoppe. But he also said some past accusers have come after him unreasonably.

“It’s not fair when people come and try to take advantage of you. I’m not refunding people just because they think they deserve a refund,” he said. “I have to make money.”

This story has been updated to state that Hoodline first reported on Cook Shoppe’s closure and Lawrence Tonner’s arrest.

Janelle Bitker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @janellebitker