Lockup owners address claims

From the beginning, The Lockup was the subject of stories and speculation. The Main Street Salisbury restaurant was set to open in a space that had primarily been used as a clothing store, and its long renovation through a seemingly endless summer of 2016 was as public an affair as possible. 

Pedestrians peeked in through the windows, watched the workers, and by autumn, it seemed anyone inquisitive enough to fully stick their head in the door was happily given a full tour, weeks ahead of the Thanksgiving Day grand opening. 

From those tours there was a lot to report: a full-sized pool table, a lounge bar, café seating for brunch, a sound-mixing room for children and teens, fresh pasta made daily in the open kitchen. Could it all be true? In one space? Would it be too trendy for the prep school community? Too high-ticket for the locals?

But despite the favorable opening and a packed launch party, The Lockup has now become the subject of a different species of speculation. 

Three months into its run, the restaurant has been met with stories that have little to do with avant-garde food, decor or even price points. Rumors swirled following reports of several members of staff leaving. 

Whispers around Salisbury from varying sources claimed that the owners failed to pay staff, pocketed servers’ tips, only opened The Lockup as a tax break and are planning to close shop, slip away into the night and never return — effectively, that the restaurant was an elaborate scheme.

“When someone comes and says we didn’t pay our staff it’s hurtful. It’s not true,” said Eric Macaire, sitting down for an interview next to his wife and co-owner, Liz Macaire. Sharing their side of the complicated story, the pair both agree that it has been a difficult winter. 

“We’re running behind on bills, but we always put our staff first, and that’s what’s been really sad about this whole story. We are behind on some of our own personal bills, but we always put our staff first,” he said.

“This restaurant cost a fortune,” he continued. “We could have done Sheetrock, Formica flooring and counters, aluminum tables, and just been a little restaurant around the corner. We put a lot more into it. 

“We put everything on the line, all our personal money, all my investments, and we worked for six months building this restaurant. So it cost us more than perhaps we should have chewed off, but we did it. We are paying our bills now, but it is the roughest time of the year to be open up here. It’s trial and error because so many other business are shutting down for the season or closing some days, but they are riding on a long reputation. We are brand new.”

One of the most serious problems The Lockup faced, the Macaires said, was with the first payroll system they used, which created financial problems for them. Also a problem was the system for distributing server tips that was implemented in the first weeks they were in business.

Liz Macaire said that as they sort out the new payroll system they have been offering advances to their staff, and without immediate deduction from the following paycheck. 

“We’ve been saying, if you need something, here, we’ll give it to you. We are doing the best we can, and if one of our employees needs help, we will help them.” 

She admitted they have been late on payments. “But we are overwhelmed trying to untangle a huge financial mess. As of this week, we’re finally back and golden.”

The Macaires said they had disagreements with former staff members over tips, which The Lockup refuses to offer in undocumented “under the table” payments, which are common in the industry but illegal. Eric Macaire said he has no interest in “getting fined by the IRS” and is extra cautious about being “above board” following a lawsuit against his Manhattan restaurant, Jubilee, involving allegations of wage theft.

The suit is part of a large wave of servers suing New York City eateries over back wages. The defendants have ranged from major, expensive institutions owned by the likes of Mario Batali and Thomas Keller, to smaller mom-and-pop businesses. 

Since the majority of these cases are being settled out of court, as Jubilee’s was, any results of investigations into these allegations are absent from the public record. 

As a precaution, the Macaires have The Lockup staff agree to sign a separate contract stating the employees agree to be paid the regulated tipped server wage in Connecticut (which is lower than the standard minimum wage). There are no cash tips doled out at the end of the night. Instead, tips are legally declared.

This is creating some struggle within the already small restaurant service community, but the Macaires plan to keep moving forward.

“We’re not packing up, we’re here for the long run,” said Eric Macaire. “People say ‘think about the community, think about the locals.’ But we are. This restaurant was built for the locals. Our prices are slightly higher, but the quality of our products is high, and the locals want quality. We’re carrying local farm products, the pasta is made every day, by hand, from scratch. There’s a preconception that we’re New Yorkers, but we’ve been living here, we’re here, and we are part of community.”