First there was a Tuesday Facebook post from Proof 22 saying troubled Main Street restaurant would “remain closed for the rest of the summer to give our staff a well-deserved break.”
On Wednesday, there was different explanation for the unusual closing in the middle of the summer tourist season. A sign on the window read: “Closed today for routine maintence [sic]. We will reopen tomorrow!”
It did not.
On Thursday, the Independent learned of a letter to the Select Board from Proof 22’s lawyer requesting that “in order to re-evaluate its management options, it’s requested that Proof 22 be allowed to close for a temporary period of time which is not expected to last more than through the Labor Day holiday.”
But the real reason behind the sudden closing appears to be finances – Proof 22 apparently has not paid rent and other expenses to its landlord since March.
A June 18 “notice to quit” obtained by the Independent on Friday gave the restaurant 14 days to move out. It’s unclear whether that has now happened. The landlord is Megryco Inc., a company owned by prominent developer Rick Vayo.
“I don’t think I’m going to comment on my understanding of where they are at or what the future will bring,” Vayo said in an email Friday afternoon.
According to the notice, the restaurant’s owners last paid the $13,416 rent in March. By June, Proof 22 owed $54,321 in base rent and expenses, including the tenants’ share of taxes and building operating expenses.
When establishments that hold a liquor license close temporarily, they must notify the town.
Peter Lucido, one of the co-owners of Proof 22, did not respond to a request for comment. Lucido and Paul Tupa own Proof 22, Tavern on the Wharf, Plymouth Public House, in Cedarville, and the new Shanty restaurant being built on Town Wharf. Their attorney, Allan Costa, did not respond to a request for comment.
The owners have had their share of trouble in recent months.
In May, the family of a 20-year-old Plymouth man killed in a single-vehicle car crash last October filed a $1 million lawsuit against Proof 22 and Tavern on the Wharf, alleging that bartenders served him for hours before the accident without asking him for identification. Benjamin Ruley died less than half an hour after leaving Proof 22, where he had spent four hours socializing, according to investigators.
In July, Tavern on the Wharf filed a third-party complaint against two adult friends of Ruley’s who allegedly bought him drinks there before he headed to Proof 22, arguing that they were therefore at least partly liable.
The state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission alleged Proof 22 violated licensing laws twice in 2024, one for serving alcohol to someone under 21, and another for serving an intoxicated person.
The ABCC also alleged that last year Tavern on the Wharf violated the law by serving an underaged person.
Hearings on the three alleged violations are scheduled for Sep. 9.
In January, the state also slapped Tavern on the Wharf and Plymouth Public House with fines of nearly half a million dollars for violating labor laws, including regulations on child labor, sick time, wage and hour compensation, and payroll records.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org.