OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – A west Omaha eatery has abruptly closed, and many of the employees became concerned about a missed payday.

After a surprise call from her boss, Rachel Johnson told fellow workers that Greenbelly restaurant appears to have gone belly-up financially.

“Out of the blue, on a random Monday on the way to work (my boss called me),” Johnson said. “It was about 10-15 minutes before the first shift employees were supposed to arrive.”

What didn’t arrive on payday Friday were the paychecks.

“He told us he was going to pay us at 3 pm then Saturday, nothing, Sunday, nothing, Monday, nothing,” said Alexandra Emerson, another Greenbelly employee. “Money stops coming in, doesn’t mean bills stop coming in.”

Emerson had only been employed at the restaurant for a few weeks, but Alisha Koehler worked fulltime at Greeneblly for six years.

“Being a single mother and just the fact that we got no notice whatsoever that this was coming, not even a chance to find another job,” Koehler said.

The general manager says Greenbelly had some full-time employees and several part-timers, mostly of high school age. The workers say their jobs aren’t just about earning paychecks, but they provide good service to customers, which they say earned them a considerable amount of money in tips.

Employees say the business collected, then distributed their tips money.

“Some of us are owed like $300 or $400 in just tips alone,” said Kelly Brennan.

Employees said Greenbelly’s owner’s name is Mike Schall, and they say he told them he’s waiting on new funding and that some outstanding invoices and errors in timekeeping delayed payday Friday, but Wednesday afternoon, he wrote them all checks from a personal account.

In short, he resolved the issue. The workers were paid, and in the midst of apologizing for the late paychecks, Schall promised his employees all the personal checks will clear the bank.

But what about customers? The Greenbelly sold gift cards, but Schall told 6 News that he’s trying to regroup and that the restaurant has always honored its customers. He said he’s trying to reconcile everything with some alleged theft and an investigation, but he didn’t provide details.

6 News has been unable to confirm what agency would be involved in an investigation concerning the restaurant, but Schall said he has no timetable for reopening.

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