OAKLAND — Amid new legal troubles, the owner of Horn Barbecue said Thursday that he will not reopen the popular restaurant at its West Oakland location, weeks after being approved to receive $100,000 from Alameda County to help restore the business.
In a social media announcement, renowned pitmaster Matt Horn said the restaurant’s recent woes “extend beyond the initial devastation” of a major fire that broke out late last year at the Mandela Parkway joint.
Specifically, he wrote, the restaurant site has since been plagued by squatters living in the building plus “significant structural damage with the piping and electrical systems being stripped, our shipping container being vandalized (and) continuous theft and crime in the vicinity.”
“These occurrences, each an ordeal on their own, collectively have created an environment that, at this point, is untenable for us to operate in safely and effectively,” wrote Horn, who owns two other restaurants in Oakland, Matty’s Old Fashioned, which serves burgers, and Kowbird, known for its fried chicken.
Horn did not mention his legal troubles that involve owing $167,000 to his former business partner for allegedly unpaid wages and an $83,000 settlement to his former meat distributor over allegations of unpaid invoices.
On Tuesday, an Alameda County court’s default judgment dealt Horn another blow, ordering him to pay $64,000 to Cooks Company Produce, a San Francisco-based distributor that had sought damages from Horn over a contract dispute.
Last month, attorneys for the former partner, David Kim, said Horn had been unreachable despite many phone calls, letters to his addresses and attempts to visit him in person.
Besides the county money, Horn’s family also raised $130,000 from the public through a GoFundMe in the days after the fire. He said in a new update to the donation page that this may not be the end for his barbecue restaurant.
“Looking ahead, I am filled with optimism as we envision reopening Horn Barbecue in a new Oakland location,” Horn wrote in the update posted Tuesday. “While we are currently in the process of finding and securing this new space, the prospect of welcoming you again fills us with excitement.”
It was not immediately clear Thursday if Horn had already received $100,000 in federal COVID-19 relief money from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, which unanimously approved the funding in late February.
Reached on Thursday, Supervisor Nate Miley, the board’s president, said he’d check with the county’s legal counsel, Donna Ziegler, as to whether Horn is eligible to keep the cash.
Supervisor Keith Carson, who first proposed allocating the money to Horn from what remains of his $3.1 million share of American Rescue Plan Act money, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Horn had already received $488,820 in various of COVID-19 relief aid, including loans, grants and tax credits, per his application materials.
Horn previously declined to be interviewed about his legal woes, saying in a text message, “What does it matter if I address it or not? People believe whatever they want to. My character is sound and intact.” A short time after sending the message to this news organization, Horn attempted to unsend it.
On the day of last November’s fire, Horn had speculated that the blaze had been caused by arson — actively targeted at him by criminals who earlier had tagged the West Oakland restaurant with graffiti.
On Tuesday, an Oakland fire spokesperson said the cause behind the building’s burning remained unclear, noting that “investigators continue to seek out witness testimony, additional surveillance footage, and evidence to provide more information” as to how it started.