Newly reopened Las Vegas restaurant keeps employees afloat while closing for months

LAS VEGAS ( KLAS ) — A Las Vegas restaurant has reopened after the current management claims that previous management caused them to nearly shut down for good.

Nashville Hot Chicken near Desert Inn Road and Decatur Boulevard opened in Fall 2023 and was only open a few months before it had to close. Employees said what happened next was touching.

“The whole time we were out of work, the owners were paying us,” said Teresa Hernandez, who had been employed at the restaurant since it opened. “Not that many people are like that.”

“I love them. I treat them as my family, so I try to do as much as I can to help them out because I know what it is like to struggle,” said Jedia Gan, the restaurant’s co-owner.

For five months, the owners said were able to pay their employees, and in return, they would come in to help with cleaning and maintenance of the closed restaurant.

“We want to keep our employees because they have families, they have children, and they are very loyal to us,” said Pavel Necsu, another co-owner of the restaurant. “They came to help us out and clean the place.”

While many employees returned, the previous manager was fired after the owners alleged he stole money, wasn’t paying employees correctly, and would even recycle oil that should’ve been changed every week. Current management also accused former management of being rude to both customers and employees, which resulted in bad reviews and gave them a bad reputation they said.

After months of work, the purveyors of Nashvile Hot Chicken are back. They say they are promoting a better manager and making tastier chicken.

“We’ve had more business now that we are up and running again and this is just like home,” Hernandez said.

The owners said they are not pursuing charges against the previous manager, adding that they just want to move on from the whole experience.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.