By Stephen Stirling
City Comptroller Bill Thompson said Tuesday that the city should remove or scrupulously monitor the operators of the World Fair Marina restaurant in Flushing after an audit alleged the city-owned facility may not have reported all its revenue and has not paid waiters their tips.
Auditors from Thompson’s office released a report ripping Food Craft Inc. for shoddy bookkeeping practices and told the city Parks Department — which signed a 15-year lease with the operators in 2002 — should it decide to honor its agreement that it “should assign a Parks employee to closely monitor Food Craft’s operations through the remainder of the contract period.”
Food Craft Inc. is a restaurant firm hired by the city to manage the World Fair Marina Restaurant in 2002 as both a restaurant and a banquet and catering hall until 2017.
In a letter to Thompson’s office, Food Craft attorney Yoram Nachimovsky called the findings “unwarranted,” contending the operators have invested more than $300,000 in the restaurant and catering facility since taking over and accused the auditors of engaging in a witch hunt to find fault.
“Why else would they fail to point out every positive point that they knew about the activities of my clients in establishing what has become a premier banquet hall destination despite all of the obstacles that exist?” Nachimovsky said.
Thompson’s auditors said, however, that Food Craft has only operated as a catering and banquet hall and not a restaurant since taking over, the company had not kept proper records or receipts, its management had been not paying waiters their tips and the business did not even have a cash register.
Additionally, the auditors found that Food Craft owes the city $18,646 in unpaid sewage and water charges.
In a statement, the Parks Department said it would continue its contract with Food Craft and consider hiring an independent financial monitor should it deem it necessary.
“The comptroller’s audit team revealed that Food Craft Inc. had financial controls that needed improvement,” the Parks Dept. statement said. “We look forward to working with the comptroller’s office and an independent financial monitor to ensure that Food Craft will now exercise proper and transparent internal fiscal practices in their operation.”
The audit may have been holding up the transfer of the former Caffé on the Green site in Bayside to the Friendship Restaurant Group, which is slated to reopen the iconic Queens eatery as Valentino’s on the Green in the coming months.
Food Craft had been a member of Friendship Restaurant Group, but is no longer a partner, the Parks Department said.
“I am glad that in the face of the problems my auditors uncovered that the Parks Department and the vendor, Food Craft Inc., are taking steps to remedy these troubling issues,” Thompson said.
Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e-mail at sstirling@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
