Fourth Street Barbecue could be sold for $3 million
Sale would help retain employees
Fourth Street Barbecue may soon have new owners, giving many employees a way to keep their jobs.
Mark Welch, court-appointed receiver for the Washington County frozen food business, said Wisconsin-based Morksi Foods has agreed to buy Fourth Street for $3 million.
“(Huntingdon Bank) has approved it, and we just need the court to approve it and we’re done,” Welch said Tuesday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia L. Dodge scheduled a hearing on Jan. 9 at the federal courthouse in Pittsburgh to consider the proposed sale, which must be approved by Jan. 26. In her Tuesday order, Dodge wrote that any objections to the sale from creditors or other interested parties have to be filed by Jan. 7.
The sale comes after the current owners gave the state notice in October that they intended to shut down the Charleroi-area business. Doing so would have left 252 workers unemployed.
Around the same time, Huntingdon Bank sued, claiming Fourth Street’s owners defaulted on $90 million in loans for which the business was collateral.
As part of that suit, Welch was appointed by Dodge to manage and sell the business and its assets.
On Tuesday, Welch said Morksi is already funding operations at Fourth Street, and he expected the sale would be finalized by the end of January. In the meantime, Fourth Street’s facility in Speers is operating, Welch said, but not the facility in Fallowfield Township.
A priority of the sale was retaining workers, many of whom are Haitian immigrants, said Welch.
Immigration attorney Joe Murphy said the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) humanitarian program for Haitian immigrants is set to expire in February. The program allows eligible nationals from countries in crises to live and work in the United States temporarily.
When contacted Tuesday, Murphy said keeping Fourth Street open will help, but only somewhat because the Fallowfield facility remains closed.
“They’ve got it opened at about half strength. That softens the blow a little bit,” Murphy said.
Since the closure was announced in October, some immigrant employees moved away or found work elsewhere, Murphy said. There are others who are still without a job and who are looking at the end of TPS status in the dead of a Southwestern Pennsylvania winter.
“It’s going to be rough,” Murphy said.
As part of the sale, Welch said Huntingdon Bank released any interest in the business and its assets, paving the way for the sale. However, he said, that does not put an end to Huntingdon’s lawsuit as the bank could pursue action against the then-owners of Fourth Street who took out the loan.
The business also was hit with a commercial lawsuit Oct. 27 in Washington County Court. The suit claims the company failed to pay $2.9 million for more than 1.2 million pounds of cheese products delivered between July and October.
Founded in 2014, Fourth Street Foods manufactures frozen food products for branded and private label retailers throughout the United States. Morski Foods specializes in packaged food and commissary ingredients, including ready-to-eat products. The company has been in operation since 1961.
Joe Manning, Charleroi borough manager, is happy to see that the company will continue to operate.
“That was a very important business here in the Mon Valley,” he said. “We’re glad that it’s not just going to be shuttered or go out of business. We’re very happy to see that somebody is taking the place over and it’s going to remain a viable business here.”