Irfan Memon has lost seven franchises for Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurants in the Toronto area and another seven have been shut down in a receivership.
Memon employees raised allegations of unpaid wages leading to receivership with debts of about $10.8-million.
Memon, is also a major defendant in a lawsuit filed in May against Popeyes, its parent company Restaurant Brands International Inc. and Toronto-area franchisees.
Companies controlled by Memon operated seven out of 27 locations listed in that lawsuit, in which a former poultry supplier to Popeyes, ADP Direct Poultry Ltd., accused the restaurants of buying “unsafe” meat from an unauthorized supplier.
The allegations have not been tested in court, and Restaurant Brands has said, most recently in July, that it found no evidence of those claims.
Despite that disclaimer, shortly after ADP’s lawsuit was filed, Restaurant Brands raised questions with Mr. Memon’s companies about where his restaurants were buying their meat.
In a notice of termination of their franchise agreement, sent on Sept. 18, Popeyes stated that it had advised Memon’s companies in June of “significant discrepancies” between the quantity of chicken the restaurants were buying from approved suppliers and the quantity of chicken that they sold.
The notice said the franchisee had not provided “sufficient or satisfactory” explanation of those discrepancies.
