Boise restaurant covers Hyde House lost employee wages

Shortly after being asked by his 7-year-old son what he had done to make someone’s day, the owner of Treasure Valley restaurant Paddles Up Poké came across a local story that struck a nerve.

Dan Landucci read about a North End restaurant owner writing bad checks to her employees. When the checks started bouncing, Hyde House owner Cynthia Sauer abruptly closed the restaurant and stopped answering calls. Her staff of about 15 were left unpaid. A number of them said they have more than $1,000 in unpaid wages and were struggling to pay bills.

Landucci, 32, decided to he wasn’t going to make just one person’s day. He wanted to make the day of the entire former Hyde House team.

“We have decided to cover the loss of all Hyde House former employees’ final check,” Landucci wrote on Facebook.

The employees’ lost wages add up to about $10,000. Rich Connelly, whose daughter worked at Hyde House, had been trying to find a way to get staff members their missing wages. After his GoFundMe raised just $2,205 as of Sunday, Connelly had begun to lose hope until Landucci reached out.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Connelly told the Idaho Statesman in a Facebook message. “I literally screamed with joy. I shouted over and over and ran downstairs to show my wife, nearly tripping over my own feet with excitement. Our prayers had been answered.”

Landucci said he plans to pay whatever remains once the GoFundMe is done. He is setting up a meeting this week with former employees to discuss their financial losses.

“I’d love to meet them and just let them know that this is not how it was supposed to be,” he told the Statesman in a phone interview. “A lot of them, it was their first job, and so that’s why they were so trusting with getting paid back. … I don’t want them to have something like PTSD in the workplace. We have so many amazing local businesses here in Boise.”

Landucci knows how hard people in the food industry work, because he sees it in his own restaurants. Paddles Up Poké, which specializes in customizable rice bowls filled with chunks of marinated raw fish and vegetables, has five locations across Boise, Meridian, Nampa and Caldwell. The owner said he sees his staff as “family” and can’t imagine not paying them.

“I’m a very hands-on owner,” Landucci said. “You’ll catch me at a Paddles Up every day, working the line or doing something. So I’m seeing what these people are going through in their lives.”

Former cook Safije LaPointe, 18, said Hyde House owes her about $900. Her bank has locked her overdrawn account until she can pay off the amount for the bounced checks. She hopes to use the money from Landucci to pay off that balance and cover rent.

“I barely made (rent) last month and don’t think I’ll make this month’s rent, because we are in (the) negative and have zero money,” LaPointe said.

Former Hyde House server Andrea Ayala, 21, was shocked when she got the news about Landucci’s offer to cover her missing wages.

“It is so good to see his concern for our community,” Ayala said. “I also read that he is a Boise State alum, and I hope he knows that with this gesture, he is helping current students, such as myself, deal with this situation.”

Hyde House was first opened by Jill Monteith and her family in 2016. Though the Monteiths continue to own the building, they sold the restaurant to Sauer and her daughter Shelby Swanstrom at the end of 2020. Monteith said she carried the majority of their loan for the purchase.

Monteith has put the restaurant back up for sale and has already received inquiries, according to Monteith.

This story was originally published May 8, 2022 5:46 PM.