Brigham's Breakdown

Breakdown at Brigham’s chain
Despite reassurances, workers saw warning signs
By Donna Goodison | Friday, November 20, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets

News of a looming bankruptcy filing by the Brigham’s restaurant chain didn’t come as a surprise to some of its workers.

Employees were paid irregularly and in cash, and the company wasn’t covering its share of their health insurance, according to Kathy Hogan, a waitress for 37 years at Brigham’s in Arlington. Vendors were only accepting cash for deliveries, and broken items weren’t getting fixed, she said.

“We had wonderful managers who did all they could to keep everything going,” said Hogan, 61. “Everybody stepped up to the plate right to the very end, because we didn’t want to let the customers down.”

Yet Hogan and co-workers were still shocked when the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office served eviction papers last Friday and forced the shutdown of the Arlington Brigham’s for nonpayment of rent. Only days earlier, Boston’s last Brigham’s closed for the same reason, but employees there were warned.

Luke Cooper, the founder of Deal Metrics LLC, the Baltimore private equity firm that bought Brigham’s restaurants last year, blamed their troubles on a 5 percent sales drop, rising dairy and gas prices, and lease deals that couldn’t be reworked.

Hogan called Cooper a “smooth talker” who only weeks before had been reassuring worried Brigham’s managers. “He came in a couple of weeks ago and told the people that everything was going to be fine, and then poof,” she said.

Cooper declined further comment yesterday. Deal Metrics, which he founded in 2007, has only one other portfolio company, Charity Home Raffle, according to its Web site: .

Robert Wexler, a turnaround expert from the Tron Group who was Brigham’s interim CEO for 60 days before it was sold, met with Deal Metrics executives several times.

“I thought they were good people and pretty straight shooters,” he said. “What I liked about them was they had the real desire, and they were really focused and had the energy to give this business what was needed. I don’t know what went wrong with their business model and why it didn’t work.”
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