Tortilla Factory May Close Within Days

Herndon's  restaurant may not make it through the weekend.

On Friday afternoon, owner Chuck Curcio said they would be open for dinner Friday night and if they have anything left after the night is over will try to open again on Saturday. He said he doesn’t expect them to make it past Saturday though, as food supplies are running out quickly.

Between lunch and dinner rushes Friday the restaurant was quiet, as patrons finishing their lunch got ready to leave, bought some of the remaining batches of salsa and gave well wishes to Curcio.

Outside the closed sign was up, the lights were turned out and one of the brightly painted picnic tables was strapped to the top of a truck.

“Can I buy one of the parrots?” asked a customer, pointing to an item on the wall. Curcio said he plans to sell them on Ebay, but when the customer offered $25 he got out the scissors to cut down the parrot of his choice.

Curcio said closing the restaurant was a decision based on many factors. He said the staff and equipment is aging, and more importantly the building structure is aging, and the property management wasn’t willing to do much about it.

Additionally, business at the restaurant was quite steady until about two years ago when the down economy began to have bigger impacts in the area, Curcio said.

Patrons leaving the restaurant asked about the salsa recipe and signed up for an email list to receive updates on whether the recipe will be released or if it will eventually be sold at farmers markets or local grocery stores. When one suggested Curcio open in a new location, he shrugged, smiled and offered a “maybe.”

Recently Patch has reported on issues between , as well as asking customer to on another article. 

But not everyone is offering happy or nostalgic responses to the restaurants closing. Some former employees said the restaurant had been mismanaged in recent months and complained that in some cases they were not paid. Several employees posted messages on a Herndon Patch Facebook conversation about the restaurant's closing.

Doug Tetreault said there are more issues than may be known about the restaurant that many know and love. He said he began working at Tortilla Factory in 2005 when crowds were large and lines were still long, leaving in the summer of 2011 after business became slow.

Tetreault said he wasn’t getting paychecks on time, it became more difficult to get paid and he eventually left. He said he is still owed $360 for about a month of work he did, and other employees may still be owed money as well. He said it also became difficult to get a hold of Curcio to receive his payment.

Curcio said as far as he knows all his employees have been paid. He said he tried to contact Tetreault to get his payment to him, even asking his friends to relay messages to him. He said though he has seen Tetreault’s postings online, he hasn’t heard from him directly.