San Francisco

Businesses Owed Money After San Francisco Startup Munchery Shuts Down

Meal delivery company Munchery abruptly closed its doors this week, sparking concerns from businesses who sold their goods to the San Francisco startup.

Some businesses are owed tens of thousands of dollars and said they received no warnings about the closure from Munchery.

Dandelion Chocolates is one of about a half-dozen businesses NBC Bay Area knows of -- with smaller vendors -- just hoping that they get paid.

Lenore Estrada, who co-founded Three Babes Bakeshop, said Munchery owes her business over $20,000.

Three Babes Bakeshop is a 19-person business specializing in pies and baked goods.

"Twenty thousand dollars is a full payroll for us," Estrada said. "It's half of my annual salary. It's the money that we had been saving to make improvements and buy new equipment. So it is pretty devastating."

The only reason Estrada learned about the closing at all was an e-mail blasted to the customer list on Monday night, expressing "heavy hearts."

The vendor shock was not exclusive to the Bayview baker.

"I'm at a loss for words, I don't know," said Victor Gonzales with Rochester Midland Corporation. "The first thing in my mind is to call my company and tell them, 'what are you guys going to do about it?' Because it's going to be a problem."

Gonzales, a chemical service technician, found out on Wednesday when he arrived to an empty lot that Munchery would not be using his company's sanitation services anymore.

NBC Bay Area visited Munchery's South San Francisco warehouse and sent e-mails, but did not receive a response.

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