WE’VE REACHED CHAPTER 11 IN THE HUNKY DORY, BERNADINE’S STORY 
Here’s an update to continuing reports on the financial health of the Treadsack restaurant group, the company behind Heights-area establishments Down House, D&T Drive Inn, Johnny’s Gold Brick, Hunky Dory, Bernadine’s, Foreign Correspondents, and Canard: Mothership Ventures, LLC, an entity owned by Treadsack partner Chris Cusack and — according to Houston Press reporter Craig Malisow, the business entity that operates as Bernadine’s and Hunky Dory — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection over this past weekend. Foreign Correspondents and its next-door-neighbor bar Canard closed for business in the shopping center at 4721 N. Main St. suddenly at the end of last year; in February, Malisow published a detailed saga of payroll and tax problems behind the shutdown, alleging Treadsack restaurants had become subject to IRS and state liens totaling more than $1.3 million, and that at one point the Texas Comptroller’s office had threatened a seizure of assets at Down House if taxes were not paid. Bernadine’s and Hunky Dory have been operating since late 2015 in a new building constructed for them at the corner of 18th St. and N. Shepherd. Update, 1:30 pm: An investor has filed suit against the owners of Treadsack, the Houston Press now reports. Craig Malisow also notes that the debtor in the bankruptcy filing has been granted funds to pay for the next employee paychecks. Photo: Hunky Dory
Sign up for the Newsletter
I clicked on the link to the larger Houston Press story and that’s quite a story. They may have bitten a bit more than they could chew in the short period.
.
That being said, it is never a good thing to get behind the 8-ball with the Texas comptroller’s office and the IRS for back taxes. And, having a cash flow issue where your employee checks bounce is not a good sign. It isn’t the first time this has happened to a restaurant group and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
I wish the group well, lots of talented people employed there. The hit job by the Press certainly didn’t help. The Press seems to love bringing down any small business that it deems too popular. Surely hundreds of other businesses are behind on their taxes, and have cash flow problems; so why single out Treadsack for this treatment? Maybe they didn’t buy enough ad space.
^ are you kidding? Press hit job? Don’t do by night what you wouldn’t want seen in the light. Please.
Kudos, turning_basin. A piece by a newspaper detailing malfeasance is not a hit job. It’s called “the facts”.
I wouldn’t call it a hit piece, but the Houston Press has had a history of slanting coverage towards Heights bashing. They were very unfair in their treatment of Mitch Cohen and his work with White Linen Nights. This article had a similar bias in that it was long on throwing stones at Cusack (who does deserve some stones) but was very short on looking at the embezzlement and whether Foreign Correspondents was pulling its weights on the business side. When you play up Cusack buying a Tesla and going to fancy restaurant conferences but do not get all the details on the embezzlement and business issues, you do show a bias.
hahahaha, “the facts”
Sounds like Treadsack has/had some spineless shills keeping the books.
If you shine a light on that HP guy, this is what you find, ‘Credulous fabulist Craig Malisow, never one to let the truth get in the way of a good story…’ In terms of the HP story he comes off as the unpopular kid at school who is finally, and viciously, getting back at someone for all of that pain. (So odd, was there no editor?) It seems like Treadsack are trying to get back on track.