Facing massive debt and escalating fines, an embattled Center City brunch restaurant is planning to close
Even before Chubby Chicks 1111 opened, owner Shakeira Turner said she had problems with the neighbors in the condominiums upstairs.
Last November, restaurateur Shakeira Turner closed her brunch spot Chubby Chicks in Blackwood, N.J., to focus on her new, larger location in Philadelphia’s Washington Square West neighborhood.
But even before Chubby Chicks 1111 opened across from the Forrest Theater in December, Turner said she had problems with the neighbors in the condominiums upstairs.
In interviews and on social media, Turner said she had faced harassment. Turner, who is Black, described the actions as racially motivated, adding that a white man had asked her if she had used her “drug dealer baby daddy money” to open the restaurant.
» READ MORE: Chubby Chicks 1111 owner says she is being harassed
Noise complaints from condo owners began shortly after Chubby Chicks’ Dec. 3 opening. The condo board — which represents owners of the seven residential units as well as Turner’s landlord, who owns the restaurant’s ground-floor unit — began to assess fines at $200 per instance. Little came of meetings and attempts to remediate the noise, according to court documents.
The situation went public in February after Christina Afia Harris, a digital creator known as Dr. Afia, posted a video on Instagram to rally support for a business facing what Harris called “bullying, harassment, and racial discrimination.” In response, customers flocked to Chubby Chicks for the over-the-top dishes such as fried sweet potato pie, fried shrimp and salmon bites, and red velvet stuffed French toast, as well as the weekend DJ brunches. Business was good, Turner told The Inquirer on Tuesday, but the noise complaints did not subside.
This week, facing nearly $30,000 in fines assessed by the condo board as well as a notice of impending eviction, Turner announced on social media that she had “lost the battle” and expected to close soon. She did not specify a date.
(The condo board’s complaints and fines were assessed to Turner’s landlord, who passed them on to her. The fines also were in violation of the terms of her lease.)
“The harassment never stopped,” Turner said on Instagram. She said that when her 12-year-old daughter received inappropriate messages online, Turner ordered her to delete her online accounts. Turner said Tuesday that she did not know who was sending them.
Turner has had issues with the city, as well, according to a review of filings in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. In April, an attorney for the condo board notified the landlord’s attorney that Chubby Chicks was violating its lease for lacking several city licenses, including a special-assembly occupancy license — presumably for the karaoke brunches that featured DJs — and a certificate for a fire-suppression system.
The city also threatened to shut down the restaurant for its failure to obtain a food-preparation and servicing license. A health inspection performed the day after the city notice suggests that Chubby Chicks had secured this license.
By then, the fines had been compounding, as the residents had voted to increase the fines for noise to $2,500 per instance, according to an email sent by the condo board’s attorney to the landlord.
On June 23, the landlord demanded a judgment against Turner and the restaurant for $885,000, including the fines; the balance of her lease (which runs through 2030); two months’ overdue rent (at $6,500 a month); and attorneys’ fees.
Attorneys representing Turner and the landlord did not reply to messages seeking comment.
“I don’t want to break the lease,” Turner told The Inquirer. “We’re basically being evicted because of the violations that we have.”
Turner has another problem: Common Pleas Court records show that in May, an attorney for her landlord at her previous location in New Jersey filed notice that it was pursuing a judgment of at least $133,000 for back rent and wants to seize the Center City restaurant.
Turner said she and the property manager at Campus Point Plaza had “a verbal agreement that I could leave, but the actual landlord didn’t agree.” She said they were working out this dispute. An attorney for the New Jersey landlord did not reply to a request for comment.
With Chubby Chicks still open Thursday, Turner said she was thankful for the support from customers. When asked what her next step might be, she replied, “I’m going to open another one.”