Tapped out: Taps Fish House closes amid accusations of financial mismanagement
On July 7, Taps Fish House & Brewery shuttered all locations. The seemingly sudden closure came as a shock to many Orange County diners who frequented the legacy restaurant in Brea as well as its other concepts, Taps Brewery & Barrel Room, Taps Brewery + Kitchen and Taps Great American Brewery in Tustin, Anaheim, Yorba Linda and elsewhere. Known for steak, seafood and craft beer, Taps appeared to have survived the pandemic. Unfortunately, the business was unable to survive a partnership gone sour.
Joe Manzella founded Taps Fish House & Brewery in 1999, with backing from his late father. The concept found success, and he opened two more locations in Orange County and one in Corona. By 2019, Manzella had plans to expand the brand further and hired Randy Teffeteller, founder of West Coast Ventures & Resources, as an adviser. In 2020, the duo created Tableside Partners Inc., with Teffeteller as acting chief executive officer.
From there, the story of the collapse of a $30-million restaurant group gets as cloudy as a hazy IPA.
“My restaurants, when Randy came aboard in 2019, were five operations,” Manzella said in an interview with TimesOC on July 11. “There was the Catch in Anaheim, Taps Fish House Irvine, Taps Fish House Corona, Taps Fish House Brea and then the Barrel Room. I sat with him and said I want to grow the company, you were recommended to me, I need access to capital and I have this brand and this brand and this brand that I want to explore.”
In an email to TimesOC from Teffeteller on July 11, he contended that when Manzella sought his company’s assistance in the reorganization of his businesses, it was already in trouble.
“This decision was prompted by years of mismanagement and familial lawsuits involving the misappropriation of funds,” Teffeteller wrote.
In 2022 Manzella fired Teffeteller, citing a laundry list of alleged infractions in a termination letter he has since shared on social media.
Among the allegations, Manzella cited failure to pay federal, state and local taxes as well as property taxes for the companies South Coast Connects, Inc., GT3 LLC; Wild Devil LLC; and JM Distribution LLC. The bankruptcy filing shows back taxes owed but does not indicate who failed to pay them.
According to Teffeteller, West Coast Ventures & Resources and TAPS parted ways in August 2022, “as West Coast Ventures & Resources would no longer support the financial decisions being made by Mr. Manzella.”
Manzella alleges Teffeteller mishandled nearly $20 million in pandemic relief funding.
“There was an enormous amount of money that had come in through COVID,” Manzella said.
In his email to TimesOC, Teffeteller wrote, “a review of the PPP and EIDL applications reveals that it was Mr. Manzella who obtained the grants and loans he states are missing, with all funds being deposited into his personal bank accounts.”
Manzella Properties filed Chapter 11 in 2022, and the bankruptcy trustee in the Manzella Properties case filed a motion seeking to convert that case into a Chapter 7.
“We attempted six different options of capital injection,” Manzella said. “Every one of them was refused by the bankruptcy trustee.”
Bankruptcy court trustees shuttered the Taps concepts last week, but even the posted notices on the doors of the Brea location and the Tustin Barrel room were in conflict.
“Taps will be closed until further notice 7/7/2023” the sign on the door at Taps Fish House Brea read, while the posting on the door at Tustin’s location said “Closed for facility mechanical repairs.”
An estimated 200 employees are affected by the closures in addition to unpaid vendors, who Teffeteller suggested in his email are being held over a barrel.
“The real victims are the employees who aren’t paid,” Teffeteller wrote.
On social media, patrons expressed sorrow over the news of the closure. On Reddit on July 7, a customer wrote: “This place [the Brea location] was one of my first dates with my now wife many years ago. It held a special place in our hearts when we’d occasionally return for anniversaries etc. Pretty sad. “
“So sad first taps now anchor brewing!,” wrote a commenter on Instagram, referring to the recent closure of San Francisco’s 127-year-old brewery, Anchor Brewing Co. “What’s wrong with the world. Wishing you the best hope you bounce back I’ll be there triple fisted with your brews when you do!”
Manzella expressed gratitude to the Orange County patrons sorry to see the concept close:
“The family cannot thank the communities [the locations] were in enough,” Manzella said. “I know we haven’t been able to say that yet, as much as we would like because of how fluid it is. We are not sure of the direction, but we are trying not to say ‘bye.’”
On July 12, the 14,128-square-foot Brea location was listed for sale by investment real estate firm CBRE.
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