Prominent, award-winning Charlotte restaurateurs face legal, financial troubles

Greg and Subrina Collier, two of Charlotte’s most well-known restaurateurs, are facing legal and financial troubles related to two of their most popular establishments.

Greg won national acclaim in 2019 when he received his first James Beard nomination for Best Chef in the Southeast at the now closed Loft & Cellar. Since then, the Colliers have opened three Charlotte restaurants.

But a recent lawsuit against their popular Uptown Yolk restaurant and other court records reveal potential money troubles for the local powerhouses and have stalled the reopening of their most applauded restaurant, Leah & Louise.

Greg Collier says these financial struggles don’t make them different from any other restaurant owners in the city.

Architecture firm lawsuit

The most recent financial challenge for the couple comes in the form of a lawsuit from Redline Design Group, a local architecture firm.

On Jan. 17, the design group asked a judge to rule in its favor in a lawsuit against Uptown Yolk, a restaurant owned by the Colliers. Redline says that the Colliers have not responded to the lawsuit filed in September and should be found in default.

That suit claims that Redline Design Group performed architectural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection design services for the Colliers’ popular brunch restaurant.

The lawsuit also says Redline did graphic artwork for a now-scrapped multi-concept plan that would have opened four new restaurants in Camp North End.

These services were agreed upon through a proposal signed by Greg Collier, the lawsuit says. But Redline Design Group says it was never paid and is owed $35,600.69.

Matthew Cox, lawyer for the design group, said if the judge were to grant Redline’s motion, the next step would be a damages hearing. That is a hearing where a judge decides how much compensation a party is owed.

“We just want my client to get paid,” Cox said.

Greg Collier said he was unaware of the September lawsuit and that an interview with The Charlotte Observer was his first time hearing details of portions of the case.

Court records show that Subrina Collier was served with the complaint and summons in October by UPS and signed for it. But Greg Collier claims they haven’t lived at the address the summons said the complaint was delivered to since March 2024.

Collier said that he paid Redline between $30,000-$35,000 for work aside from the new sum they are suing for. He couldn’t provide exact details on what work was completed under this initial payment and declined to provide documentation of a separate contract or receipt of payment without lawyer approval.

He believes that the payment Redline is now suing for is an additional charge. Collier said they were unsatisfied with the work done by Redline and ended up going with a completely different design for Uptown Yolk to save on construction costs.

David Eve, president of Redline Design Group, said that about 40% of what the company is suing for is owed to the company’s contractors who performed the work. Without the funds, he said, the contractors have still not been paid.

While the motion is still pending judicial review, Redline’s lawsuit is not the only indication of money troubles for the restaurateurs.

A weighing tax burden

Aside from the lawsuit, court records show the Colliers and their restaurants face hefty state and federal tax liens.

In October, the State Department of Revenue filed five tax liens on Leah & Louise totaling $292,799.55. In 2020, their Uptown Yolk restaurant also faced five state tax liens on which the couple still owes at least $19,882.87 as of Thursday, according to the public records from the Mecklenburg County Superior Court.

Aside from the liens against the Colliers’ restaurants, court records show the couple owes $197,091.98 in state and federal tax liens on their personal properties.

Collier said they are in the process of reaching out and getting on payment plans to get up to date on their tax responsibilities. But he acknowledged some of the struggles that come with being a business owner.

“You know, like large businesses we’ve struggled paying some things, and we’ve had some tax issues and different liens,” he said. “We fully intend to take care of every lien, every tax situation.”

Nationally known restaurateurs

Greg Collier in 2019 was named a semifinalist for a James Beard award for his work as chef of Loft & Cellar. The couple became well known after he achieved the same honor in 2020 for his work with Uptown Yolk, their first restaurant, which they opened in Rock Hill in 2012 and moved to Charlotte in 2019.

In 2022, he advanced as a finalist for his work with Leah & Louise and in 2023, he was named as semifinalist as outstanding chef, also as part of Leah & Louise.

Leah & Louise, which opened in 2020 at Camp North End, made additional national headlines. In 2022, The New York Times named the Southern-inspired juke joint as one of its favorite restaurants. Kamala Harris even stopped by to eat there in January last year while on a trip where she announced federal funding for mental health initiatives.

The couple closed Uptown Yolk’s uptown location in 2021 before reopening it in South End two years later. They also opened a new restaurant, 3rd & Fernwood, at Metropolitan Charlotte in 2023.

In 2021, they also created the Bayhaven Food and Wine Festival, which has been running for four years and is a celebration of Black foodways and food traditions of the African Diaspora.

But the road has not always been easy, Collier said.

“To be honest with you, it’s been a constant struggle to stay above water and operate as a great restaurant,” he said. “What we’ve decided to do is make sure our staff is paid. I’m gonna try our best to make sure our vendors are paid. And, you know, try to take care of our family. We’re not here laying people off. We’re not out here closing restaurants last minute.”

In spring of 2024, the couple announced that they were moving Leah & Louise out of their popular location at Camp North End and relocating to West Charlotte. The move, the Colliers told Qcity Metro, was part of their plan to support the revitalization of the city’s West Side.

The couple told Qcity Metro that the new restaurant could open at the end of 2024, pending construction timelines. The restaurant officially closed in Camp North End in April, but the new restaurant on the west side has not materialized.

“We want to do that,” Collier said of re-opening Leah & Louise. “That’s something that we’ve always wanted to do. The issue is the same thing. Trying to find capital. Restaurants, it’s not a $50,000 project. Restaurants take millions of dollars to build, millions of dollars to fund the first year. A lot of times hundreds of thousands spent on marketing those restaurants as well. And the current issue is the difficulty with finding the funding.”

A need for support

In 2022, the couple also announced plans to open four new eateries at Camp North End. The location was supposed to be home to a doughnut shop called Beyond Amazing Donuts (B.A.D.), a counter-service chicken shop called Bird is the Word, a seafood restaurant called Passage Seafood and a speakeasy attached to Passage called The Abyss.

Former Leah & Louise pastry chef Jasmine Macon eventually opened B.A.D. separately in the Madison Park area.

But a year after the project’s announcement, the Colliers’ BayHaven Restaurant Group announced that the restaurants wouldn’t happen. They cited construction costs and a “changing economic climate,” WBTV reported.

Collier said the closure of that project had nothing to do with pending liens, but trends of slower business for the restaurant industry as a whole made them decide not to take on the project.

With their many accolades, some people assume they don’t need help and support to keep their businesses afloat, Collier said.

“I think people think because we get James Beard nominations, or because we’re in The New York Times, or because we’re in Bon Appétit or Food and Wine and all those things that, ‘Oh my god, they must be rich!’ … (and people think) we don’t need to help those two people, because those two people are fine, and they got it,” he said. “That’s not true. To be honest with you, that has never, ever really been the case.”

This story was originally published January 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM.