okay, not as bad. This is when everybody makes their money to get them through winter and spring.”
On Monday morning, devastated workers returned to empty kitchen cabinets and clear the steel-topped counters in the sprawling fourthfloor kitchens — a lively work hub bubbling with creativity and cheerful camaraderie just two days earlier. Tears mixed with frustration as complaints mounted against Pilotworks for its heavy-handed handling of the situation.
“There’s people freaking out, because some people are completely dependent on using those kitchens daily — daily, daily, daily, to produce their baked goods or whatever it is,” said David Roa, founder of Superlost Coffee. “And those people have nowhere to go … There’s people in tears.”
“There wasn’t any wiggle room,” Roa added. “It was just pack up and go. There’s zero time to adjust.”
Some of the tenants claim they were charged for a full month’s rent before the shutdown, with 18 days still left in October.
Pilotworks did not return an emailed request for comment.
Other tenants recounted Pilotworks’ reassurances of a continued home after the company closed outlets in Portland, Me., and Providence, R.I.
“In one day, it’s just shut down,” Liz Santiso, the owner of the Brooklyn Biscuit Company, said of the Brooklyn closing.
“I had a market the next day, and I had to leave all of my stuff in the refrigerator — I couldn’t access it,” she said.
Jay Solly, founder of the chef-driven prepared-meals business Brooklyn Quality Eats, characterized the Saturday night shutdown as a bloodbath.
“They made us all commercially homeless,” said Solly. “We’re talking about 1,000 people out of work with barely a day’s notice. This is a debacle for anyone who cares about food in Brooklyn.”