“Taps will be closed until further notice,” read the sign taped to the front entrance of the Brea Taps Fish House and Brewery on Friday, July 7. The restaurant had served the community since 1999 and sparked an empire that grew to five locations.
The sudden announcement extends to Taps’ other restaurants and breweries in Tustin, Yorba Linda, and Corona. Roughly 200 employees are affected.
“This is nothing remotely close to a restaurant closure of any normalcy,” Taps founder Joe Manzella said Saturday. “It is the complete and total collapse of a $30 million restaurant group that has been in business for a quarter century.”
The restaurant and brewery, which has produced award-winning lagers and ales over the past two decades, helped lead the craft-beer movement in Orange County while cementing Brea as a destination-dining spot.
Manzella, chief executive of Manzella Restaurant Group and recognized as one of Orange County’s most successful independent restaurateurs, opened Taps Fish House and Brewery in Brea in 1999 along with his sister and late father.
“Manzella hit the bull’s-eye with Taps, which appealed to everyone from wealthy businessmen to sports fans to date-night couples,” the Orange County Register reported in 2014. Following the success of his first eatery, he opened locations in Yorba Linda, Anaheim, Tustin (a sprawling 19,000-square-foot brewery), and Corona.
The closure of all Taps restaurants comes on the heels of Manzella’s other ventures shuttering. The Catch in Anaheim closed in 2021, reportedly due to pandemic-related reasons, and Lillie’s Q ceased operations in 2017.
In 2020, Manzella Restaurant Group tapped restaurant industry veteran Randy Teffeteller, founder and managing partner of West Coast Ventures and Resources, as acting CEO. He was terminated in September 2022, according to a letter provided by Manzella. The letter alleges dozens of problems with the restaurants’ management.
Teffeteller said by email on Saturday that he is unable to comment at this time.
Manzella contends that financial mismanagement eventually forced the company into debt consolidation, which, in part, led to the closures.
“There was no operational issue,” he said. “We didn’t suddenly forget how to serve Chilean sea bass and Irish Red.”
When asked if he hopes to reopen Taps, Manzella says, without hesitation, “Absolutely.”
Source: Orange County Register
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