The doors were locked and no employees were present at the Warsaw Detroit Street Penguin Point location Friday afternoon, Dec. 30. InkFreeNews photos by Liz Shepherd.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Those hoping to grab food from Penguin Point on Friday afternoon, Dec. 30, in Warsaw may have been disappointed.

According to Eric Graham, a former manager of the restaurant chain’s location at 408 N. Detroit St., employees staged a walkout at both of Warsaw’s restaurants due to a pay issue. The other location is at 2401 E. Center St., and Graham said some workers have since reopened it.

Graham said workers at all of the chain’s locations across northern Indiana decided to walk out at 2 p.m. today. The pay issue has been ongoing for awhile due to an investment group in Texas having taken over the company, he said.

According to the Indiana Secretary of State’s webpage’s list of businesses, Penguin Point Restaurant Group LLC based out of Dallas, Texas, runs the chain. Jeff Love is listed as the manager and the chief financial officer is Michael L. Russell.

Workers get paid weekly and recently have been delayed in getting paid multiple times, wondering sometimes if they would even get money at all, said Graham. That happened again this week, with Graham noting he and some other employees hadn’t been paid as of late Friday afternoon.

“We’re tired of being lied to,” said Graham. He noted a manager from the restaurant that closed recently in Plymouth was fired shortly before Christmas “due to a cost savings” after being moved to Warsaw and demoted.

All employees recently had a pay cut of $1 per hour, Graham said.

Graham, who opted to quit Friday due to conditions, said employees miss the family culture previously at Penguin Point and are passionate about serving customers, but the pay issue has affected their morale.

He said the general manager of the Detroit location, who worked over Graham, also quit, leaving no one to manage that location.

Dawson Clark, a former general manager of a Penguin Point location in South Bend, has also contacted InkFreeNews regarding issues with the restaurants.

“They (Penguin Point) lied when they said they gave all employees a chance to switch stores,” said Clark in an e-mail. “If you did switch stores, you got a huge pay cut.”

Clark also alleged that multiple female employees quit due to Penguin Point’s director of operations making sexual statements toward them.

The interior of the restaurant was dark, with the exception of menus and some kitchen lights.