On Monday morning, Marble Slab franchise owner Andrea Schlegel-Parsons was locked out of her store by intruders from Marble Slab’s head office, leaving the store and the jobs of the locations’ employees hanging in the balance.
In a statement to CTV, Marble Slab Creamery stated that they plan to reopen the location in a few weeks.
Schlegel-Parsons said that on Monday at 8 a.m., she was informed by the security company for the store that intruders had entered the premises. When she looked at the security footage, she saw that the intruders had ripped out the security system and cut the wires, and she arrived at the building to find that the locks had been changed as well.
Although Schlegel-Parsons is the only name on the lease, the people from the head office asserted that they had every right to be in the building, and that they had hired a bailiff to break the locks and enter the building. “In order to maintain the peace, I agreed that the store would be locked until there was an order from a judge confirming that I am the tenant of that building,” she said.
The head office has stationed security guards in front of the store, where Schlegel-Parsons along with several staff set up a booth earlier this week to inform curious passersby of the situation.
Carolina Zamora, a political science student who works at the location, said that the closure has been quite stressful, as the student workers rely on their pay to cover things like tuition, rent, groceries and more. Zamora pointed out that one student is a full-time caretaker for her mother, while the international students who need the work hours to receive their permanent residency are also left hanging.
“By not having access to our jobs [with] literally 2 hours’ notice…we can’t even apply for other jobs,” Zamora said. Some of the staff have begun looking for other jobs, while other staff are staying and hoping that they can return to work soon.
Zamora described the additional time needed to raise awareness around the issue on top of her existing co-op and school schedules, stating that the situation has “definitely taken a toll on my schedule.”
Schlegel-Parsons attributed the sudden shutdown to an association she began with other Marble Slab franchisees. Despite it being within her legal rights to do so, she described a string of retaliations from the head office, including additional inspections of the store in contrast to the norm of one annual inspection, as well as a letter of default in September, claiming that Schlegel-Parsons had failed to meet certain requirements in the franchise agreement.
Despite putting forth several challenges in response to the defaults, Schlegel-Parsons never received a full response to her concerns. One example she cited was that after being informed that she had failed to purchase mandatory products, she requested a comprehensive list of the items the store must have and where they could be purchased from, something that never arrived.
Another series of events that led to the shutout was an ultimatum presented to Schlegel-Parsons in April. She said that the head office had told her that she had not cured the defaults, and that she could sign an agreement to sell the store in the fall under their terms (including indemnifying them and paying for their legal expenses incurred so far), or her franchise agreement would be terminated within seven days.
According to Schlegel-Parsons, the franchise agreement states that if there is an uncured default, the franchisee must receive 30 days’ notice before the contract can be terminated. “There is no default against me because none of the accusations that they have accused me of [have] any validity,” Schlegel-Parsons said. She emphasized her passion towards quality, and stated that she has won several best operator awards at previous franchisee conventions.
After the 30 days had passed with operations continuing as normal, Schlegel-Parsons and her lawyer determined that the head office’s claims were null and void since they had not executed them. Schlegel-Parsons has also filed a small claim for the money she has spent dealing with the default accusations laid against her by the head office.
Despite the difficulties, Schlegel-Parsons emphasized recognition of her staff and their efforts to support her. “I am inspired by my staff. So I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am for all of them,” she said.
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that the head office had said forming an association was what put Schlegel-Parsons in default. This has been amended.
