HoneyHole employees unpaid after owner disappears, but not for the first time

The lights of a Capitol Hill sandwich shop, HonelyHole, are dim, with a sign on the door announcing the restaurant is “closed, sorry for the inconvenience.” Another sign, posted adjacently, explained the business is closed due to the owner not paying his employees.

HoneyHole, a largely popular neighborhood stop off Jefferson Ave., has been marred with managerial issues recently after being sold by its founders in 2021. Since then, there have been complaints of employee harassment, discrimination, and unpaid wages, leading to the restaurant being sold again in July 2023.

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Now that the new owner is missing.

Evan Bramer, a former HoneyHole employee, took over the restaurant in July, looking to revive the restaurant’s reputation following a rocky couple of years.

“I know the HoneyHole standards. I know what it should be brought to. It has always been a 100% inclusive place,” Bramer told the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog back in July.

On Monday, employees reported Bramer missing to the Seattle Police Department (SPD), according to The Stranger, with managers and employees left in the lurch over what to do with the restaurant, whether they were still employed, and for some, if they would receive pay for work they had already done.

Ash Dame, the general manager of the Pike Street location, told The Stranger that the company’s food vendor is no longer delivering to the restaurant due to an overdue balance of nearly $3,000. She also said that several employees who received paychecks had their checks bounced, and the address listed on the checks no longer exists.

Bramer has an apparent history of disappearing. In 2015, he walked out of a probation office and fled to Mexico for three months. Bramer was arrested reentering the county when border patrol found he was wanted for an outstanding warrant for child molestation in Arizona.

A photo of Bramer posted on the door of HoneyHole appears to be the same mugshot from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

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On the HoneyHole website, a message appears from the web hosting that reads, “Do you own/manage this business? Payment is past due on your hosting account.”

The business also received two health code violations in the September inspection. The State’s Department of Labor Industries received another complaint about the business in October.

A third piece of paper dated Oct. 31, presumably from the property manager Timberlane Partners, is the legally mandated notice to enter the property, with the reason checked off, “to verify resident has abandoned premises.”