Tavern Hospitality Group, founded by Frank Schultz and Terry Papay, is now at “an existential crossroads.” (BusinessDen file)
The local restaurateur Frank Schultz is asking a judge to let him fire his mother and warning that if he’s not allowed to, she will destroy the “wildly profitable” business that they built.
Since 1997, when they turned a warehouse at 20th and Market into The Soiled Dove music venue, Schultz and Terry Papay have operated Tavern Hospitality Group. It later included restaurants and venues in Uptown, Lowry, Littleton and the Denver Tech Center.
But the two have been feuding in court since March, when Papay sued her son. Schultz, who countersued in April, now says that the dispute threatens the existence of Tavern.
“For more than a decade, the Tavern enterprise has thrived as a Colorado brand. It is now at an existential crossroads,” Schultz warned July 20. “Ms. Papay will destroy the business during the pendency of this case. She will do this for her own pecuniary benefit.”
That glum prediction was included in the latest legal salvo between the warring relatives: a motion that seeks to oust Papay from her role as chief financial officer of Tavern. Only that can stop his mother from using the business “as a personal piggy bank,” Schultz says.
Frank Schultz
“Ms. Papay used the Tavern entities as a bank leading up to this lawsuit. She used them as a bank after this lawsuit…. There is no stopping her without a preliminary injunction. This must end — now,” he wrote to Denver District Court Judge Andrew Luxen last week.
Schultz accuses Papay of not paying him his $26,400 monthly salary — leaving him without “liquidity to survive” — while continuing to pay her personal bills with company dollars. Schultz’s countersuit made similar allegations of financial impropriety and commingling.
“Mrs. Papay will respond to Mr. Schultz’s allegations in court but otherwise has no comment,” said her attorney, Leah Capritta with the Denver office of Holland & Knight.
For her part, Papay says that Schultz is the one pilfering company cash for personal use and also that he owes $3.7 million on loans. She is suing her son for close to $8 million.
Tavern restaurants operate in Littleton and Lowry, but locations in Uptown and the Denver Tech Center are now closed. Tavern Wash Park closed in 2018. Tavern Downtown and Cowboy Lounge, which Schultz also owned, closed in the fall of 2019, months after Schultz sold the real estate for $17.75 million. Tavern Platt Park closed at the end of 2019.
Tavern Hospitality also operates non-Tavern-branded restaurants, including Whiskey Tango Foxtrot in Union Station North and Otra Vez Cantina on the 16th Street Mall.
Schultz is represented by attorneys Chad Williams, Adam Hirsch and Amy Bowles with the Denver firm Davis Graham & Stubbs. They and their client declined to comment.
Tavern Hospitality Group, founded by Frank Schultz and Terry Papay, is now at “an existential crossroads.” (BusinessDen file)
The local restaurateur Frank Schultz is asking a judge to let him fire his mother and warning that if he’s not allowed to, she will destroy the “wildly profitable” business that they built.
Since 1997, when they turned a warehouse at 20th and Market into The Soiled Dove music venue, Schultz and Terry Papay have operated Tavern Hospitality Group. It later included restaurants and venues in Uptown, Lowry, Littleton and the Denver Tech Center.
But the two have been feuding in court since March, when Papay sued her son. Schultz, who countersued in April, now says that the dispute threatens the existence of Tavern.
“For more than a decade, the Tavern enterprise has thrived as a Colorado brand. It is now at an existential crossroads,” Schultz warned July 20. “Ms. Papay will destroy the business during the pendency of this case. She will do this for her own pecuniary benefit.”
That glum prediction was included in the latest legal salvo between the warring relatives: a motion that seeks to oust Papay from her role as chief financial officer of Tavern. Only that can stop his mother from using the business “as a personal piggy bank,” Schultz says.
Frank Schultz
“Ms. Papay used the Tavern entities as a bank leading up to this lawsuit. She used them as a bank after this lawsuit…. There is no stopping her without a preliminary injunction. This must end — now,” he wrote to Denver District Court Judge Andrew Luxen last week.
Schultz accuses Papay of not paying him his $26,400 monthly salary — leaving him without “liquidity to survive” — while continuing to pay her personal bills with company dollars. Schultz’s countersuit made similar allegations of financial impropriety and commingling.
“Mrs. Papay will respond to Mr. Schultz’s allegations in court but otherwise has no comment,” said her attorney, Leah Capritta with the Denver office of Holland & Knight.
For her part, Papay says that Schultz is the one pilfering company cash for personal use and also that he owes $3.7 million on loans. She is suing her son for close to $8 million.
Tavern restaurants operate in Littleton and Lowry, but locations in Uptown and the Denver Tech Center are now closed. Tavern Wash Park closed in 2018. Tavern Downtown and Cowboy Lounge, which Schultz also owned, closed in the fall of 2019, months after Schultz sold the real estate for $17.75 million. Tavern Platt Park closed at the end of 2019.
Tavern Hospitality also operates non-Tavern-branded restaurants, including Whiskey Tango Foxtrot in Union Station North and Otra Vez Cantina on the 16th Street Mall.
Schultz is represented by attorneys Chad Williams, Adam Hirsch and Amy Bowles with the Denver firm Davis Graham & Stubbs. They and their client declined to comment.
