Rodney Scott's BBQ and owner Nick Pihakis were sued Monday in Charleston County over a $350,000 loan that plaintiffs say fell into default less than two weeks after it was signed. The restaurant's Charleston location then temporarily closed Sunday, May 3, adding a public sign of strain to a case built around missed payments and unpaid guarantees.
The lawsuit says the loan from Itria Ventures, LLC, was signed March 24 and required payments of close to $11,800 twice a month for 18 months, or 36 payments in all, at a 25.99% interest rate. Plaintiffs said Itria is out more than $364,000 because the payments stopped coming as scheduled.
Named in the suit are Pihakis, Pihakis Restaurant Group, Pihakis Investment Group, JER Spirits Investments, Rodney Scott's BBQ Charleston and RSBBQ Partners. The filing says Rodney Scott's BBQ Charleston and RSBBQ Partners were guarantors on the loan, and that Pihakis signed to add his restaurant group, investment group and JER Spirits Investments as additional guarantors.
The timing sharpened the pressure around the business. The case was filed on Monday, April 27, less than one week before the Charleston closure, and it came as other locations and brands tied to Pihakis Restaurant Group announced temporary closures in recent weeks. Pihakis Restaurant Group is based in Birmingham.
The loan suit is not the only financial claim hanging over the company. Pihakis Restaurant Group also faces more than $8.2 million in landlord lien claims in Alabama, and an Alabama lawsuit brought by Evans Meats alleges restaurants tied to the group failed to pay almost $400,000 in invoices for meat, seafood and other products.
For now, the clearest answer to the question raised by the Charleston shutdown is that it did not happen in isolation. The loan dispute, the lien claims and the supplier lawsuit all point to the same conclusion: the pressure on Pihakis's restaurant group is broad enough to reach beyond one city and one brand, and the next move will have to address more than a temporary closure.