FMI Restaurant Group, the company that owns Funky Monkey Wine Company and the not-yet-open Divas Dinner Theatre, is filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.
According to FMI co-owner Eddie Nickell, the financial issues can be traced to two things: a wall that was built around their Pointe Orlando Funky Monkey location, and the legal troubles of Orlando businessman Nik Patel.
Patel was arrested Sept. 30 for allegedly fraudulently selling $150 million in loans, and he faces a $72 million civil suit.
Nickell said Patel was a partner in Mingo’s, a now-closed restaurant that was located in The Sanctuary downtown, and Nickell and his partner Nick Olivieri held the lease for the Mingo’s space.
He said FMI were the guarantors of the space, and once Patel was arrested, their legal counsel advised them to file for bankruptcy and reorganize.
“We have no intention of going back in those spaces, but we still have 18 months on the lease, and the lease is $20,000 a month,” Nickell said, plus Patel’s company “owed some back rent.”
Previously, FMI owned and operated Nick’s Italian Kitchen and Prickly Pear restaurants out of the Sanctuary, but both of those restaurants are now shuttered.
Additionally, Nickell said Pointe Orlando built a wall around their Funky Monkey Pointe Orlando location which severely cut into their business this year. He said the wall is gone now and things are back to normal.
FMI’s shuttered ventures also include retail shop Funky Monkey Vault and the Mills Brewpub. The Brewpub is being reopened as Divas Dinner Theatre. Along with the two Funky Monkey locations – Mills downtown and Pointe Orlando – Nickell said those three businesses will be all that FMI operates in 2015.
“We’re gearing up for a very busy season,” Nickell said. “We look to come out of this bankruptcy intact and hopefully everybody will be paid.”
He said Divas is on track to open its doors Jan. 8, 2015.
