Pay Delay: Ultra Music Festival Food Truck Operators Say California Subcontractor Stiffed Them

For the nearly 20 food truck operators who fed the masses at this year's Ultra Music Festival, getting paid has been an ultra-nightmare.

Larry Galper figured landing a coveted spot at Ultra this past March 22-24 would be a boon for PizzElla, the mobile pizzeria he founded three years ago. Despite dangerous thunderstorms and muddy conditions that forced the festival to shut down hours early on its first night, PizzElla served up pies to long lines of fans at the three-day electronic dance music extravaganza.

"We had a great experience even though the rain didn't help," Galper tells New Times in a phone interview. "It was such a coup to be recognized by a brand like Ultra."

But nearly two months later, Galper and other food truck operators haven't received payment for their credit card and electronic device transactions, which represented a large chunk of their sales, based on interviews, as well as emails and screenshots of texts between vendors and the owner and employees of Best Beverage Catering (BBC), the California-based company that handled food and beverage services at Ultra. BBC selected the food truck operators, who signed on to work at the festival as subcontractors of the catering company.

"We are talking about $200,000 to $300,000 owed to food vendors," Galper says. "I am on the lower end of what other people are owed. But for each of us, it is a lot of money for a small business."

To make matters murkier, judging from emails and text screenshots shared with New Times, BBC president Dirk Alton appears not to have responded to the vendors' inquiries with clear answers about reimbursement. In an email response to a request for comment, Alton had little to impart other than, "I am working to come to a resolution as quickly as possible."

An Ultra spokesperson did not respond to two emailed requests for comment.

Nelly Velasquez, who owns a food truck called Lobsta Guy, tells New Times she had no issues receiving her payment two weeks after last year's event. "This time, it's been 40-something days and counting," says Velasquez, who also serves on the Surfside Town Commission. "I am owed almost $20,000. I owe over $10,000 to one of my vendors because I don't have that money to pay them."

Reimbursement Delayed

Galper says the contract with BBC called for the company to take a 35 percent cut of the receipts, plus a 3 percent credit card fee per transaction. Each vendor also had to pay for their own electricity. Vendors had to use BBC's electronic point-of-sale system, which operates via the Square app. Under the terms of the agreement, BBC was to provide each vendor with a statement enumerating sales and expenses and pay them within 30 business days after they signed an invoice acknowledging that the statement was accurate.

"We were given a general accounts-payable email address to follow up with if you have any questions," Galper says. "When we would send simple, generic questions such as, 'Can you confirm the latest date we will get paid?' [BBC] would reply with cryptic responses."

Galper shared emails showing that since signing his BBC account statement on April 1, he has asked six separate times for clarity on when he'll be reimbursed. On April 29, for instance, Galper wrote, "Following up again. Please, I desperately need this money. We are a super small business. Please advise when we can expect payment."

"I totally understand this wait can be frustrating and I truly appreciate your patience and apologize for the trouble," a BBC representative replied nearly ten hours later. "We are having some difficulties, and unfortunately, Ultra is taking a little longer than expected."

BBC had "all the intention to pay your balance" and that Galper was a top priority, the rep added, but the company was unable to provide the pizza maker with any payment information "right at this time" and "will get back to you as soon as possible."

Shortly before the 30-business-day deadline — May 13, in Galper's case — he was added to a group chat that included 14 of the 18 food vendors who'd worked Ultra, some of whom had participated in a half dozen or more iterations of the music festival. Not one of them had received payment.

"We were all like, 'What is going on?' There has been no statement from Ultra or Best Beverage about anything, not even, 'We're sorry.'"

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"They were like, 'Something is not right,'" Galper tells New Times. "We were all like, 'What the fuck is going on?' There has been no statement from Ultra or Best Beverage about anything, not even, 'We're sorry.' We are all bugging out. We can't afford to hire a lawyer."

Galper shared a screenshot of an email from a BBC employee named Nephew Guidino. "BBC is no longer operating," it read. "It is not very clear what that means for all the vendors. What I do know is that Ruby, Nando, and myself are no longer BBC employees."

A screenshot of an Instagram message Galper received on his PizzElla account shows a conversation with a woman who identified herself as a BBC bartender and claimed Dirk Alton had filed for bankruptcy and sold BBC.

Nelly Velasquez shared a screenshot of an email she says she received from Alton in which the BBC owner denied filing for bankruptcy and selling his company but appeared to acknowledge that his company was having difficulties. "A partnership gone haywire that basically broke the business down," Alton wrote. "None of this was the plan." He assured Velasquez that "Ultra is looking to help out and I am getting them info today."

Velasquez says she was contacted by an Ultra official but cannot comment on the conversation.

Meanwhile, she says, she has lost a ten-year credit relationship with her food supplier and has been unable to pay some employees for the weekend shifts they worked at Ultra. "I am trying to figure out how I am going to pay people," she says. "I may have to take on a loan. It's horrible."

Resolution at Last?

Rodney Brown, who co-owns the vegan food truck Plant Minage, tells New Times he got a phone call late last Thursday, May 16, from a person who identified himself as "a friend of Ultra and Best Beverage."

"He told me that Ultra would pay me, but I have to sign an agreement not to talk to the press," Brown says. "I spoke to my business partner about it, and we were like, 'Nah.' I knew it was fishy."

This was Plant Minage's first experience working Ultra. Brown says he and his partner spent $11,000 preparing for the festival but generated $8,900 only in sales and will take home only $3,600 after deducting the fees.

"We wanted to make a statement," Brown says. "We had to take out extra insurance that raised our premium from $200 to $600 a month. And I hated the whole fact that they made us use their point-of-sale system."

Juan Peñalosa, a co-owner of Made in Italy food truck, and Yule Muñoz, owner of Santo Dulce food truck, declined to be interviewed when New Times reached them by phone late last week, requesting that questions be sent via text and email. Neither responded to subsequent inquiries.

As of Friday morning, May 17, Larry Galper hadn't heard from Ultra. "I haven't heard directly, nor has anyone else to my knowledge," Galper wrote in a text message to New Times. "However, we have heard that [Ultra] may be close to addressing it."

"We don't want trouble," Galper added. "We feel our only hope at this point is that Ultra steps up and helps us find a solution."

On Saturday afternoon, Galper texted an update: "This is resolved and now a non-issue.”

He did not respond to a subsequent text seeking to clarify whether he'd been paid and asking whether he'd been required to sign an agreement that precluded him from speaking with reporters.