Before it ever fully opened to the public, The Jewish Mother has closed its City of Williamsburg location.
City Economic Development Director Michele Mixner DeWitt confirmed Monday the Virginia Beach-based business would not follow through with the opening of a Williamsburg location.
DeWitt said the company entered default on its lease agreement Aug. 12, and the city had retaken possession of the units within the city-owned Triangle Building.
“We’ve sent them a default notice and we’re showing the property to other prospective tenants,” DeWitt said.
The closure comes nearly a year after Williamsburg officials sat with the president of the live music venue and restaurant to sign a five-year lease for the last two spaces in the Triangle Building — the Williamsburg Redevelopment Housing Authority-owned commercial building at the corner of Prince George Street and Armistead Avenue that also houses MAD about Chocolate.
The company, owned by Scotty Miller, opened the deli portion this spring but closed it earlier this summer. In an interview with WYDaily on Aug. 8, Miller said the deli closed as part of the company’s preparation for the opening of the other space — the live music venue and restaurant called Jewish Mother Unplugged — which he predicted would open Aug. 25.
When asked whether rumors regarding its impending closure had merit, Miller claimed the restaurant was “dealing with the inspection process,” and that a permit regarding kitchen apparatus was holding up the grand opening. As of Aug. 8, the restaurant had obtained a valid liquor license from the commonwealth.
That same day, an individual identified as a manager with the Virginia Beach location told WYDaily the Williamsburg franchise was “not happening.” Miller dismissed the comment as false.
“They don’t know what’s going on,” Miller said. “We had the deli part open, but the management there, what happened was one of them decided to go back to California and the other went to Virginia Beach.”
Also in the Aug. 8 interview, Miller said payroll issues had come up in the Williamsburg location, and he was in the process of looking for a new manager.
Miller could not be reached for comment before the publication of this article.
The Aug. 25 opening date for the music venue is months past the original target date. Dave Coleman, a partner and the director of operations during the September 2013 press conference on the lease signing, told reporters the business would open no later than March 1.
Miller and Coleman have been engaged in a legal dispute since December 2013. Miller filed suit against Coleman, alleging that Coleman had failed to follow through on a plan to franchise The Jewish Mother, and was illegally using the business’s trademarks and trade secrets. Miller sued for $8 million — the amount Coleman allegedly paid for the exclusive license to use the Jewish Mother’s intellectual property — $350,000 in punitive damages and demanded Coleman cease using the Jewish Mother trademarks. According to court documents, Coleman lists himself as unemployed.
Coleman served Miller with counter- and cross-suits in February, alleging Miller had misled Coleman with regard to a partnership with the Jewish Mother. According to a complaint filed by Coleman’s attorneys, Coleman was contacted to operate a Jewish Mother franchise in Williamsburg, and was offered a 50 percent stake in the business if he operated and managed the Virginia Beach and Norfolk locations of the business.
Coleman alleges he discovered employees at the Virginia Beach location embezzling funds, and asked to be removed from operating that location. According to Coleman, at that point, Miller said Coleman would operate the Norfolk franchise, and would be a partner at the Williamsburg location; however, Miller unilaterally decided to close the Norfolk location.
Coleman claims to have paid Miller $100,000 for the right to use the intellectual property associated with the Jewish Mother, including trademarks, pointing to a contract dated Aug. 8, 2013. Coleman says Miller continues to use the properties despite that contract. Furthermore, Coleman claims he was never paid for his management services with the Jewish Mother.
The case is ongoing.
The Jewish Mother has had several status changes throughout the Peninsula in the past year. Three months after the announcement of a new Williamsburg venue, the Jewish Mother Backstage in Norfolk closed. The Virginia Beach location closed in March, but reopened as The Jewish Mother & VB Taphouse in a different space in late May.
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