Spanky's promises to pay workers, stay open

Spanky’s restaurant in downtown Harrisonburg has lost more than $200,000 in the past six months between the closing of Spanky’s Express in April and alleged restaurant theft, according to the chain’s chief financial officer.

"The store now doesn’t generate sufficient revenue to cover our costs," Spanky’s CFO Billy Mitchell said. Criminal investigations, unpaid employees and failure to pay taxes on time have since plagued the business.

Stolen goods

Roland "Spanky" Macher, owner of the restaurant, asserted that a few ex-employees stole money, pictures, food and a computer from the restaurant.

"I came in one day and all the liquor was gone, all the beer was gone. They had no food. Nothing," Macher said. "You couldn’t even get waited on in here."

Macher said he has been working with the Harrisonburg Police Department and his bank to correct the problems.

"When I get on something, I get on it like dirt under a fingernail," Macher said.

Macher asserted that a former employee forged checks in his name to buy personal items, and the bank continued taking the checks after he contacted the office several times.

"We started bouncing checks all around town," Macher said. "[A former employee] wrote about 35 checks and signed my name, just ‘Spanky.’ Well, that’s ridiculous. It’s like writing ‘Howdy Doody.’"

He also filed several reports with the HPD for stolen cash and pictures, but said the police haven’t come through to his expectations.

"I am nobody," Macher said. "You can’t beat them."

Even though police investigated a former manager, no arrests have been made.

"Based on statements and the evidence, we were unable to substantiate a probable cause that we would need to make a charge against that person," HPD investigator Terry Warlitner said.

Because no charges or arrests were made, HPD cannot give out any information about the case, according to HPD Lt. Richard Sites.

Sites said all reports are followed up on by an investigator if they meet two standards of criteria — they either have to constitute a felony or serious misdemeanor.

"If the investigator checks out all possible leads and comes to a dead end, at that point, that case would be made inactive," Sites said.

Despite HPD’s conclusions, Macher said he is missing thousands of dollars.

Unpaid wages

With money being an issue, several employees of Spanky’s said they are not being paid. Five claims were made to the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry between May 10 and Sept. 10, according to Patti Bell, DOLI policy analyst.

Bell cannot release any information about the claims because they are still under investigation, she said.

One of the people who filed a claim, junior Justin Petty, worked as a deli supervisor from October 2003 to June 2004. He is waiting to hear back from DOLI.

Senior Travis Hampton was a cook at Spanky’s from October 2002 to May 2003 and sued Macher earlier this year for not being paid to do extra chores for him, which included taking goods to an auction in northern Virginia.

"’You’ll get paid.’ That’s what he always tells people. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get paid,’" said Hampton, who won the lawsuit and was awarded $500.

Macher said the reason many employees weren’t being paid was because a former employee didn’t have them fill out time cards or tax forms.

"You can’t stay in business if you do this kind of stuff," Macher said. "They are going to get paid."

Late tax payments

Spanky’s has been shut down three times since July for failure to pay taxes — most recently last Friday, when Macher owed more than $2,500 in meal taxes to the city. Meal taxes are a portion of customers’ bills that are supposed to be held by the restaurant and then totaled and handed over at the end of the month, said Harrisonburg treasurer Rebecca Neal.

"It’s not supposed to be used as working capital," Neal said. "And, unfortunately, they were not turning over those tax payments." Neal said she sent several notifications to the corporate office in Roanoke as standard procedure, but without money in hand, she had to close the restaurant.

"We actually should have closed them a couple of months ago," Neal said. "But we were trying to work with them and they didn’t come through."

Within 30 minutes of padlocking the door, Neal said she had the cash in her office.

"We are not always timely on our payments," CFO Mitchell said. "I’ll be the first to admit that, and I had to scramble to get the money. … We will keep fighting to keep the institution going."

Neal said Spanky’s is one of about five places that sell prepared food and beverages in Harrisonburg that haven’t been paying its taxes on time. There are about 212 of these establishments in Harrisonburg, according to Ruth Craig, a deputy in the Commissioner of Revenue’s office.

Currently, Macher is acting as general manager of the Harrisonburg restaurant, and owns three other Spanky’s around Virginia.

"I went 25 years without a violation," Macher said. "And now, all of a sudden, I get this."