Former FSP employees pondering their futures

Published 5:30 pm Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Several former employees of Food Service Partners Inc. at the Milledgeville facility have not seen a paycheck in more than three weeks.

And now that the company has filed bankruptcy in federal court in Delaware, they likely won’t see any of the money they earned fulfilling orders at the Bobby Parham Kitchen for a long time, if at all.

The local facility, located on the campus of Renaissance Park at Central State Hospital in Milledgeville, has been closed since early last week.

Many of the employees are now worried about what they will do.

There are household bills to worry about, car payments and rent, and typical household concerns that they no longer have the funds to cover. 

Renee Williams had worked at the local plant since it opened — a year and two months.

She started out as a packer and then moved to other positions.

Williams and two other employees who were interviewed last week all said they were owed about $3,000 each, including double overtime for working the July Fourth holiday. 

Williams said Justin Bizzarro oversaw the operations of the local plant. He is the son of Angelo Bizzarro, the founder and chief executive officer of Food Service Partners Inc.

“We had heard that Justin has skipped town and he hasn’t ever paid us for the work we did for almost three weeks,” Williams said.

She said she last heard from Bizzarro last Monday. 

There was supposed to be what was referred to as a town hall meeting with employees at the local plant on Friday, but it was canceled.

“None of us know anything about why the meeting was canceled,” Williams said. “I don’t think company officials wanted us to know that we weren’t going to get our checks as we had been promised.”

“[Justin Bizzarro] was supposed to speak at the town hall meeting, and I guess since he didn’t have the money to pay us, he just decided to bail out on us. I’ve heard that he turned in his keys and his employee ID badge.”

Williams said she understands that the company has also closed several of its other facilities, although that has not been confirmed. 

The company recently filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court in Delaware.

She said it was her understanding that employees at those facilities still had not been paid either.

“He said he had the money to pay us, but that it was tied up right now with a judge,” Williams said. “He said the judge would not release the funds to pay us right now.”

Williams said Bizzarro said that the company’s assets had all been frozen due to the bankruptcy filing.

Repeated attempts by the newspaper to reach Angelo and Justin Bizzarro have been unsuccessful.

“When Justin came a week ago Monday and our checks weren’t there, he said that the company had filed Chapter 11,” Williams said. “He told all of us that at an employee meeting.”

She said about 30 employees attended that meeting.

The meeting concluded with Bizzarro reportedly telling all of the employees to go home.

Another employee also spoke with the newspaper only on the condition that her last name not be used. Shakebra said she started out as a packer at Food Service Partners and ended up as a compliance clerk or quality control specialist.

“I create the batch numbers and I create all of the labels,” Shakabra said, noting she had worked at the local plant since it opened in August 2020.

She described the work environment at the Bobby Parham Kitchen in Milledgeville as “toxic.”

She said it had been that way for a long time, citing allegations of racism as a factor in the work environment issues. 

“Justin and others ignored everything we told them,” she said.

She recalled that a manager had made racial overtones toward her. 

She said it was difficult having not been paid for the past three weeks.

“They encouraged us to work all the overtime we wanted, and a lot of us worked a lot of hours, but now we don’t have any money to show for it,” she said. 

She said her rent was due and that the company has not given employees their separation notices so they can file for unemployment. 

She has two children, and she said school doors are opening this week and that her children need clothes, shoes and supplies.

“It’s very difficult not having my money that is owed to me at this time,” she said. “I really don’t know what is going to happen.”

In the meantime, she is seeking gainful employment elsewhere.

Another woman, who wanted to only be referred to as Lanera, also talked about the situation.

Lanera said she worked at the local plant as a production manager.

“I worked there for a year and three months,” she said.

She had just gotten promoted to her new job about three weeks ago.

“I had just gotten moved up from a supervisor to production manager,” Lanera said.

She, too, said there was a lot of hostility in the building.

“I could feel it, so I left there to go to another job,” Lanera said.

It wasn’t long before she received a phone call from Justin Bizzarro asking her to return to the plant.

“He said I saw your resignation, but I don’t want to accept it,” Lanera recalled. “I said this other company was offering to pay me more money.”

 She said Bizzarro asked her to come back to the plant and talk with a representative in human resources.

“When I got there, they offered me what my new job was paying, so I came back,” Lanera said. “And now look, out of nowhere, I no longer have a job anywhere.”