A bankruptcy court trustee abruptly shuttered the once-five-unit Taps Fish House and Brewery concepts in Southern California last week as the founder attempts to untangle a $30 million financial mess that he blames on a former advisor-turned-partner.
Joe Manzella founded the Taps Fish House and Brewery concept in 1999 with his sister and now-late father in Brea, Calif. The more than 10,000-square-foot casual dining concept was a hit, expanding to two more locations in Orange County, along with a sprawling brewery featuring craft beers.
By 2019, Manzella said he had plans for acquisition and expansion with the goal of building a larger portfolio of brands. So in 2019, the group hired Randy Teffeteller, founder and managing partner of West Coast Ventures and Resources, first as an advisor but later as acting CEO to help with the planned expansion.
Manzella, in an interview, described Teffeteller as “very charismatic,” and a “bullshitter,” but said, “We really hit it off.”
At the time, Teffeteller urged Manzella to “stop being so granular and be the founder,” saying he didn’t need to be so involved in the day-to-day business.
With Teffeteller, Manzella created Tableside Partners, a company that would manage the portfolio of restaurants to come, as well as Manzella’s original brands. From that partnership came brand variations like Taps Brewery + Kitchen, which opened in 2020 in Yorba Linda, and Mason Aleworks. Manzella described Tableside as a 50/50 partnership, with Teffeteller taking the lead as CEO.
Within two years, however, the $30 million restaurant group had fallen into complete disarray, Manzella said. The restaurants were generating cash, but there never seemed to be enough money to pay the bills.
“Finally, the people who should have said something sooner finally started to,” said Manzella. “I was sitting with my comptroller and it was like, how the F is this even possible.”
Teffeteller did not immediately respond to attempts to reach him. But in an email on Tuesday, he disputed much of Manzella's story, saying the company had suffered years of mismanagement and familial lawsuits involving the misappropriation of funds before he was brought in.
"Mr. Manzella is not a victim but rather the protagonist in this story," Teffeteller wrote, saying that the Taps founder is unjustly blaming the courts, judges, trustees, restructuring companies and Teffeteller's company for his own actions.
In 2022, Teffeteller was terminated, but by then millions were owed to vendors and in back taxes, though the restaurants were not losing money from an operational standpoint, Manzella said.
During the pandemic, Tableside collected close to $20 million in pandemic relief loans and grants, which Manzella now says is now missing.
Manzella, who had signed personal guarantees, said he filed personal bankruptcy last year, and he said the trustee in that case decided to force the restaurant closures on Friday, leaving more than 100 workers owed up to two weeks of pay.
In addition, a company he co-owned with his sister, Manzella Properties LLC, which owned the real estate for the original Brea location, also filed for Chapter 11 reorganization last year, according to court documents.
Manzella said three investigative agencies are looking into criminal charges, and he also plans to take legal action.
In an Instagram post, Taps Fish House said its restaurants in Brea and Corona had nothing to do with Taps Brewery + Kitchen in Yorba Linda, which was described as part of a “partnership that has fractured” and has had no oversight from Taps Fish House since September 2022.
Manzella also posted part of the termination letter for Teffeteller. And in yet another post, he throws out allegations of embezzlement, fraud, and missing Covid relief funds, saying there are three criminal law enforcement probes.
“This has nothing to do with Taps and everything to do with an extraordinary financial fraud and scheme perpetrated against the Manzella family and hundreds of honest, loyal, and dedicated staff and management,” the post said, adding, “There will be hell to pay.”
UPDATE: This article has been update with a response from Randy Teffeteller.
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