J&J Wonton Noodle House filed a civil lawsuit in June against the owners of Tutti, a Victoria-based food delivery app. The restaurant claims Tutti’s parent company, KAVL Technology, and its CEO, Kaisa Aierkenowes, are owed $220,775 in missed payments between April 2021 and May 2022. The company has not filed a statement of defense in court. The CBC heard from six other restaurants in Victoria and Vancouver that Tutti owes them money, some of which are also considering legal action. Clif Leir, who owns Fol Epi Bakery and Agrius Restaurant in Victoria, says he is owed about $4,000 between the two businesses. J&J Wonton Noodle House filed a lawsuit in June against Tutti’s parent company, KAVL Technology, and its CEO, Kaisa Aierken. The restaurant is seeking $220,775 in lost revenue for missed payments they say date back to April 2021. (Emily Vance/CBC) “I wasn’t even sure what to do next … it’s very frustrating to hear how much they owe other people,” Leir said. Tutti responded to a request for comment via email, saying they did not want to make a public statement, but that they were working to pay merchants as soon as possible.
Restaurants are attracted by the promise of low delivery fees
Tutti launched in Victoria in 2017 and was billed as the local answer to industry giants like Skip the Dishes and Uber Eats. Customers pay for their food order through the delivery app, which takes a percentage of the total as a fee and then pays the rest to the restaurant. But while many of the popular third-party services charge fees of up to 30 percent, restaurant owners told CBC that Tutti was attractive because it charged less than half that amount: between 10 and 15 percent — a huge difference for businesses dealing with labor shortages and rising food prices. “In food service, everybody’s just trying to keep up with day-to-day operations, staffing shortages, everything that’s going on right now,” Leir said. Eric Moon is the owner of Sushi Field, which has two locations in Greater Victoria. When Tutti initially approached him, he was lured by their low fees. “We rely so much — more than 50 percent — of our service on delivery companies,” Moon said. Eric Moon is pictured at the Fairfield location of his restaurant, Sushi Field. Moon estimates that between the two restaurant locations, he is owed about $20,000. (Emily Vance/CBC) As a small business owner, Moon works as his own accountant and bookkeeper to keep costs down. When he went to do his taxes, he realized that payments from Tutti hadn’t been coming in for almost a year. Moon said they had paid once and then stopped. He claims the total amount owed between the two restaurants is about $20,000. “Everything is basically a month’s salary for all the employees,” Moon said. He contacted the company and said they told him they were having accounting problems. A few weeks later, they sent two checks. Moon said one was for $1,000, which he cashed. He said the second one, for $300, bounced. He says he has since been unable to contact them and has canceled the service and is considering seeking legal advice. Despite numerous claims of missed payments, Tutti continued to expand. Its website claims it operates in Chilliwack, Maple Ridge and Squamish. Tutti recently launched in Vancouver, where Chickpea restaurant owner Itamar Shani started using its service. After receiving a call from CBC News, he checked his bank statements and said he discovered he had never received a single payment since he signed up in April. “I feel like I’m being deeply hurt. It’s like someone’s being taken advantage of. It’s really hard for me to understand. I don’t know. How can I respond to that?”
