Restaurateur feels sold out

On what was apparently the last-ever New Year’s eve celebration in its home of 18 years overlooking Little Bay, Caffe on the Green was sold out. The restaurant’s operators, the Francos, felt the same way.
“It’s all a scam,” they said of the sequence of events leading to the end of their run as a concessionaire at what had come to be known as “one of the top five restaurant and banquet halls on Long Island and Queens.”
The upscale eatery had been franchised to the Francos’ company, Merissa Restaurant Corporation, until February of 2010 - until it was cancelled “in the best interests of the city” by a hand-delivered letter from the Parks Department dated January 8, 2008.
In the envelope was also a notice giving Merissa 30 days to vacate the premises, stating that the process for selecting an “interim concessionaire” would begin at a meeting of the mayor’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee (FCRC) in downtown Manhattan, at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 9 - the next day.
“They gave us no explanation,” the Francos said. After going to court, Merissa agreed to be out by January 31, 2009 - a year ahead of schedule, but almost a year longer than Parks’ initial order. “What would you have done before being evicted in 30 days?” the Francos asked. “We took the only option available to us.”
In an audit report issued in June by the City Comptroller’s office - six months after Parks revoked Merissa’s concession - Comptroller William Thompson called for the company to pay over $120,000, including more than $30,000 in late charges.
Merissa claims they paid all taxes and concession fees to the city and that the franchise fee was $528,000 a year.
Thompson’s audit was reported six months after the Parks Department pulled the plug on the restaurant but it has been repeatedly cited in media reports in conjunction with the revocation of the franchise.
Caffe’s complaints about its treatment are echoed by community activists. Numerous groups such as the Queens and Flushing Chambers of Commerce, the Bay Terrace Community Alliance, State Senator Frank Padavan, Assemblymember Ann Margaret Carrozza and City Councilmember Helen Sears are on record as being supportive of the restaurant and against the process to change concessionaires.
Eugene Kelty, chair of Community Board 7 (CB7) and other members are angry about it. “They issued the [Request for Proposal] during the summer when we don’t meet,” he complained, accusing Parks of ignoring community concerns. “They don’t care what we think in Queens,” he fumed.
Elizabeth W. Smith, the Assistant Commissioner for Revenue and Marketing, issued a letter in October dismissing Kelty’s objections. She noted that the city issued a request for proposals on August 25 (CB7 met in September) and rejected several limitations on the proposed operation which had been sought by the board.
The restaurant’s approximately 80 unionized employees who are now out of work are not city workers and there was no obligation to rehire or negotiate with them, according to Smith
The Francos are also frustrated by a series of media reports, beginning with an article which appeared in a daily tabloid shortly after Parks’ letter, linking one of the owners with organized crime figures.
“We were investigated when the city first gave us the concession,” they pointed out. “They’ve had no complaint with us - We’ve been a model tenant.”
According to Merissa’s attorney Sid Davidoff, the principals have “never even gotten a traffic ticket.”
Nevertheless, the agreement between Parks and Merissa declared that neither the principals, nor “any associates or family members” would bid on the franchise.
A Parks Department spokesperson confirmed that a daughter and a former employee did submit a bid, but it was rejected.
“You can’t bind a third party with no knowledge to an agreement,” Davidoff objected, asking, “Are they going to ban anybody who’s ever eaten at the restaurant?”
The city’s Department of Investigations declined to comment.
Despite all the protestations and objections, the winning bidder, The Friendship Restaurant Group, was announced on Tuesday, January 6 by the FCRC.
Friendship is comprised of two restaurant businesses, Famous Famiglia Pizzeria, with some 66 locations in the U.S. and India and Usha Holdings, LLC, which operates the World’s Fair Marina Restaurant.
City records show that Usha Holdings paid a lobbying firm partly owned by former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone $5,000 to target “Executive Legislative Agencies” in 2008.
Caffe on the Green has set up a web site to keep people informed about their new location - www.caffeonthegreen.com.