Ormond Beach's D.B. Pickles Closes Permanently

Ormond Beach restaurant D.B. Pickles has closed for business permanently. The business, which opened in 2006, appeared to give its employees little notice before ceasing operations.

D.B. Pickles has served customers from its 400 S Nova Rd location for decades. While restaurant management has yet to release a statement confirming the nature of their closure as of Wednesday, at least one employee has taken to social media to shed light on the situation.

A Facebook user named Karen Laudisio shared their perspective on the closure, saying that D.B. Pickles' owner is filing for bankruptcy. The business is registered to Michael Dekorte, per the Florida Division of Corporations. According to Laudisio's post, a text message was sent to employees claiming there weren't funds to distribute the last round of paychecks. The text reads as follows, according to Laudisio.

• "Everyone, with great sadness, and my apologies for sending so late, I am informing you that we can no longer stay in business, the extraordinary costs of repairing, and lately the replacing of high value equipment, and now roof top AC replacement is just not feasible, the hole is just too deep, and no help is available, as I hoped I may find out today, and confirmed.
  
  "Also, so you know, you will be contacted by a court appointed trustee, in the coming days as you are all named in a bankruptcy filing set to go in the days ahead, as there is not enough funds for this past payroll. I am sorry, I tried, and hoped to find a way to pull through the slow season, but it's just too high of a hill to climb. Thank you to all for your support and contributions to help make Pickles a success, many of you have so many years here, thank you!
  
  "I will be available going forward if you have any questions, and I certainly will be happy to give references to you if you need.
  We will be looking for work as well. And will respond when we can.
  
  "If there is anyone not on this group, please forward to them. Thank you again so much, you all have been wonderful!"

A GoFundMe has been started saying it wants to raise money to assist the displaced workers of the now-closed D.B. Pickles. It aims to raise $88,000, and sits at $905 as of Wednesday.

Also weighing in on the closure was Stephen Polzella, whose father Pete founded D.B. Pickles and ran it until selling it in recent years. "It’s very sad for us because that was my father’s brainchild and he put in so many long hours making it a decent place for families in Ormond to dine at for nearly two decades," he said. "It was turning a profit when he sold it but if you don’t have the drive and experience a restaurant can turn on you very quickly. When there is no longer a person involved to constantly make sure standards are set at the expense of their free time and general wellbeing it will show almost immediately to your customers and employees alike."