Popular Bucks County steakhouse was forced to close amid landlord dispute, its owner says
The closure of Rocco’s at the Brick Hotel in Newtown stems from a sudden change to the restaurant’s liquor license.
With hundreds of reservations on the books and the holidays approaching, Rocco’s at the Brick Hotel in Newtown, Bucks County, abruptly closed last weekend. The closure, which left about 50 employees out of work overnight, was not the restaurant’s decision, according to the owner.
The sudden closure was prompted by a dispute between the steakhouse’s ownership and the property’s landlord, who also controls the liquor license, said David Gelman, son of Rocco’s owner Marc Gelman.
David Gelman said that Rocco’s was forced out of business because the landlord, Verindar Kaur, had filed a change on Friday with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to remove Rocco’s LLC, Marc Gelman’s corporation, from its liquor license.
The ability for Rocco’s to sell alcohol was part of the business’ operating agreement, in effect since the restaurant opened in January 2018. Kaur owns the liquor license while Marc Gelman operated the restaurant, paying her a fixed monthly fee and a percentage of proceeds in addition to what David Gelman described as “Center City-level” rent.
Contacted Sunday by email, Kaur said she was “unable to speak with anyone.” She did not reply to a follow-up email Monday.
David Gelman said his first inkling of imminent trouble was Thursday night, when Kaur emailed him and his father to say that she would terminate the agreement unless a new financial arrangement was reached by the following day. The PLCB confirmed to The Inquirer that on Friday, it received a notice that the license’s corporate structure and officer were being changed. This move nullified the management agreement, David Gelman said.
“This is not something we wanted to do,” Gelman said. “But we can’t operate without the liquor license [per the agreement]. There was no way to rectify the situation.”
Rocco’s last night was Saturday.
Gelman said that Kaur’s actions constituted a breach of both the lease and the management agreement and said his father planned to file a lawsuit seeking damages.
“There’s a clause in the lease that [operating a restaurant] is contingent on having a liquor license from her, so by interfering with that license, she’s breaching her own contract,” said Gelman, a lawyer.
The restaurant had “hundreds of reservations” on the books for Thanksgiving and corporate holiday parties, he said.
Gelman said the restaurant was informing customers that they could be accommodated at the Pub in Pennsauken and Library II in Voorhees, other steakhouses operated by the Gelman family in South Jersey. Those who hold Rocco’s gift cards can call Rocco’s number or contact it through the website for a refund.
Remaining inventory, including seafood, meat, and produce, was relocated to the Pub and Library II to prevent waste.
Rocco’s, named after the son of chef-partner Cole Caprioni, occupies the ground floor of the Brick Hotel, parts of which date to 1763.
The Mercer-Bucks-Central Jersey Eateries Facebook group was trying to help Rocco’s employees find new jobs.
Kaur previously operated the restaurant at the hotel, featured in 2016 on the Gordon Ramsay television show Hotel Hell, before Gelman’s company took over. On camera, Ramsay declared, “I want to shut this place down,” over cleanliness and customer-service issues.
“Ninety five percent of what was on the show did not happen that way,” Kaur told the website NewtownPANow.com in 2016, adding the producers drummed up drama for ratings.