UPDATE: Labor and
Industries confirmed it’s investigating five wage complaints lodged
against Bainbridge Bakers this year.
It’s hard to imagine Bainbridge Bakers, one of Bainbridge Island’s oldest and busiest coffee shops, being in financial trouble.
Apparently, it is.
An employee launched a campaign on GoFundMe.com Monday to raise $100,000 and “Save Bainbridge Bakers” from closure. The campaign had the blessing over owner Mike Loudon, according to the description.
Bainbridge Bakers opened a new location in the upscale Island Gateway development a year ago, and expanded its original home in Winslow Green.
The new location was a financial failure, according to the GoFundMe page and posts by the Bainbridge Bakers Facebook account. Recent posts also alluded to theft by an employee.
Bainbridge Bakers closed the Gateway shop and plans to relaunch it as a full-service restaurant, but the original location is now also in dire straits, according to the GoFundMe page. Donations will be used to keep the original shop afloat.
The GoFundMe campaign had raised about $6,000 as of Tuesday evening.
DO NOT SUPPORT MIKE LOUDON (OWNER)
http://www.insidebainbridge.com/2015/04/15/bainbridge-bakers-asks-community-for-100k-should-you-pay/#idc-cover
Bainbridge Bakers hasn’t paid it’s employees in over 2 months and a great many of his employees are having huge financial issues after being lied to about receiving fair pay for fair wages. L&I discovered that Bainbridge Bakers has almost no employees listed and those who quit due to non payment cannot collect unemployment. I suspect next year it’s employees will recieve a nasty audit as on their taxes as well due to this.