Former Upper Crust Owner Working For New Hingham Pizza Shop

Former manager of Upper Crust, including Wellesley location, now managing The Peel Pizza Company in Hingham, expected to open on Tuesday.

A former Upper Crust owner, who allegedly exploited his former employees, is now working for the new Peel Pizza Company, which will open in its former location in Hingham Square next week. Brendan Higgins, who was a co-owner of Upper Curst when it went bankrupt,  is the brother-in-law of Peel Pizza Company’s owner, Matthew Troy. On Thursday, Troy said Higgins will be working for his new pizza business as a manager, but wants no affiliation to the Upper Crust.  “This company is 100 percent owned by me,” Troy said. “It’s 100 percent my investment dollars. We have zero affiliation with the Upper Crust and we would like to keep it that way.” Higgins was a co-owner of the Upper Crust with Joshua Huggard and founder  Jordan Tobins before they …

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Upper Crust: New Owner Says Restaurants 'Will Be Run Better'

The new owners of Wellesley's Upper Crust say the product is the same, but the management is entirely different.

It's new management and new faces for Wellesley's Upper Crust, as it reopened this month under new management after being closed for several months. The firm UC Acquisitions purchased the property in January along with locations in Watertown, Boston's South End and Lexington during an auction after its previous owners filed for bankruptcy last year. Representatives met with the Board of Selectmen in February and were unanimously approved for their common victualler license. The troubled pizza chain's former owner, Jordan Tobins, was accused of several labor issues including failing to pay employees their wages, allegedly relying on undocumented workers for labor, and using company money for personal use.  Despite reports from some media …

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Upper Crust Set to Reopen

Board of Selectmen Approve Upper Crust Wellesley for a common victualler license, restaurant set to reopen

  Upper Crust is coming back to Wellesley--at least, it is set to re-open. The Board of Selectmen last night unanimously approved the common victualler license which would allow the restaurant to serve up pizzas once more.  Representing UC Wellesley LLC, Shawn Shenefield, the original manager of Upper Crust's Wellesley location said he is returning to manage the restaurant. The location is set to re-open almost exactly as it was before it closed: the same layout, menu and recipes.  Shenefield says he hopes to re-open the location by the end of the week. Upper Crust had been facing financial difficulties, and in September the company defaulted on a TD Bank loan. Company officials filed for bankruptcy protection, and a number of locations--…

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Lawyer For Upper Crust Workers Loses Bid to Buy Wellesley Location

A judge reportedly rejected efforts to keep a firm connected to the former Upper Crust owner from returning to the bankrupt pizzeria's storefront.

Weeks after an auction of assets belonging to the now-bankrupt The Upper Crust, an attorney representing former workers at the pizzeria chain reportedly has failed in an effort to buy the now-closed location on Central Street in Wellesley. The Boston Globe reports that lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan had offered to pay $200,000 more than the offer sale price that had been accepted at auction last month for the Wellesley, Watertown, Lexington and South End locations. The winning bid for those assets came from a firm with ties to the former owners of The Upper Crust. But according to the Globe, bankruptcy Judge Henry Boroff said it was too late for the lawyer's offer since all of Upper Crust’s assets were auctioned on Dec. 19.

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Firm with Ties to Ousted Original Upper Crust Pizzeria Owner Wins Bid for Wellesley Store

Wednesday's bankruptcy auction was only of store leases and equipment, not of the Upper Crust franchise rights.

  When Wednesday's auction of the embattled Upper Crust Pizzeria chain was done yesterday, and the smoke (somewhat) cleared, a company with ties to the pizzeria's founder, Jordan Tobins, reportedly had won control of the Wellesley store site. The Boston Globe reports that a Ditmars Ltd.  affiliate— a private equity firm connected to Tobins — submitted the high bid of $110,000 for the Central Street location. That offer, says the Globe report, is only for the store lease and restaurant equipment, not rights to use the Upper Crust name. The same company also won bids for the Lexington, Watertown and South End store sites. The attorney representing immigrant workers said to have cheated of vast amounts of overtime pay won the bid for the …

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Wellesley's Upper Crust Closed, at Least for Now

The pizzeria chain has closed several locations, and its future is uncertain.

Upper Crust Bankrupt: Will Wellesley's Shop Be Next to Close?

The chain recently shuttered a shop in Waltham and has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Upper Crust’s troubles continue as the locally-based upscale pizza shop filed for bankruptcy protection, according to a report this morning. The pizza chain owes about at least $3.4 million as result of ownership and labor troubles, according to Boston.com. The U.S. Department of Labor investigated the chain in 2009 and the government ordered the owners to pay employees $350,000 in overtime. Though owners have said the operation will run while they reorganize, do you think Wellesley’s location will be next to close? 

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Bret Silverberg

1:54 pm on Tuesday, October 9, 2012

I had to delete that prior comment due to a terms of service violation (language and a criminal accusation).   more ›

Upper Crust Pizzeria Woes Deepen [POLL]

Upper Crust executives and founder are engaged in a bitter dispute.

Upper Crust’s woes have reached new heights with court filings showing its co-owners claim each other has used company money for personal gain, according to Boston.com. The details on the split are revealed in legal documents filed by co-owners Joshua Huggard and Brendan Higgins as well as co-founder Jordan Tobins, according to Boston.com The company is already under federal investigation for labor violations.   Upper Crust has one location in Wellesley as well as Waltham, Beacon Hill, Brookline, Lexington, South End, Watertown and West Roxbury, according to its website.  As a result of the dispute, Tobins has been placed on administrative leave, according to Boston.com and claimed the co-owners have illegally taken control of the firm. …

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