Former Tomavo Employee Unsurprised At Produce Seller’s Insolvency
MONCTON – When Alex Olmstead heard that Tomavo filed for insolvency in October, it was like history repeating itself – it dug up some ugly memories.
Olmstead is a former employee of the Maritime small grocery chain who was hired in April 2016 as a marketing and social media coordinator.
Olmstead told Huddle he rarely met with his employers at their former Mapleton Road location and said it felt like the store was constantly under renovation.
“We’d meet up occasionally at a cafe. We’d never actually spend any time on site,” he said.
Olmstead found it strange that most of his work was remote and that most of it was focused more on side projects (like a delivery company the owners were trying to launch) than for Tomavo itself.
However, Olmstead said he had never worked for a startup at the time and figured the changing mandate of his job was just part of the experience.
He said he worked for the discount produce seller for a month but had to spend weeks trying to get his pay after he left.
Olmstead was told there wasn’t any more work for him on June 24, 2016. In email correspondence he provided to Huddle, he requested confirmation that he was laid off and for his final paycheque, T4, and record of employment.
Amer Abualsoud and Frank Dew, who were his superiors at the time, repeatedly assured him he would be paid.
“And then they just ghosted me,” Olmstead said.
Dew, an external consultant for Tomavo at the time, spent time in prison for crimes unrelated to his work at Tomavo. After pleading guilty to defrauding his clients out of $2.9-million over five years, the former financial planner was sentenced to 54 months in prison for 26 counts of fraud in Charlottetown provincial court, in 2017.
After he was let go, Olmstead continued to contact Tomavo management and ask about the money he was owed. Eventually, he was told that he was terminated.
“They basically told me to stop calling,” he said.
After getting nowhere with Tomavo, Olmstead contacted Employment and Social Development Canada to try and get what he was owed through its wage recovery system.
After federal staff investigated the matter, Olmstead was told Tomavo was insolvent and that there may not be money for him to get back.
Millions Of Dollars In Debt
According to information from KPMG LLP, Tomavo filed for creditor protection on October 7 of this year and appointed the firm as its trustee.
Allan Hardy, the owner of Hardy’s Produce in Grand-Barachois, told Huddle he sold Tomavo produce, on and off, for a couple of years. He told Huddle there hadn’t been any problems until recently but wouldn’t say any more.
According to KPMG documentation, Tomavo owes Hardy $5,433.
Hardy is one of dozens of creditors from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia – along with a couple of American businesses – that Tomavo owes more than $3-million.
In New Brunswick alone, Tomavo is six figures in debt to businesses across several sectors. It also owes NB Power more than $15,000.
Olmstead said he worked with a revolving door of mostly absent managers “and a really relaxed attitude about deliverables.”
“I can’t pass judgment on how they ran their business because I was only there for a month, but it sounds like it’s just consistently money issues. Maybe it’s to do with poor sales, maybe it’s to do with them not paying suppliers, but they’ve always had that trouble” he said.
The sole entry under the name Tomavo in the New Brunswick Corporate Affairs Registry Database lists it as an extra-provincial corporation whose registration cancelled July 28, 2021.
The registry says Tomavo owes taxes for 2020 and 2021, noting its most recent filings are from 2019. Tomavo, according to the database, was registered as an extra-provincial corporation on May 15, 2017.
The database lists Zeeyad Ibrahim M. Alarfaj, Omar Abjullah A. Alfalah and Samar Ali Najarian as its directors. Najarian is also listed as Tomavo’s company agent.
A unique Distribution Network
One thing that struck Olmstead about his former employer was the varied supply chains it used to source the cheap fruits and vegetables it became known for.
Tomavo, which brands itself an alternative to larger grocers, built its own distribution network.
“They were talking about bringing stuff in from overseas. I don’t know how they’d get it on a ship fast enough while still being cost-efficient. They didn’t use the same channels as everyone else,” said Olmstead.
“They made their own distribution and that was their own schtick. They relied heavily on connections from previous experiences. It was all directly through producers. At the end of the day, the onus is on them to pay their suppliers, no matter who it is.”
A Presistent Pattern Of Closures
Trouble was brewing for Tomavo around the same time it declared insolvency: in early October, the chain shut down its Shediac location.
When Tomavo’s former store at 15 Rue du Vestititaire shut down, the company left a note on the door that said, “Our Shediac location is permanently closed due to an unsupportive landlord that chose to close an essential small business.” It also thanked the community for its support.
The note said Tomavo is “actively looking to find another location to better serve you.”
Tomavo later announced the closure of its location in the Woodside neighbourhood of Dartmouth.
Meanwhile, stores with the name Tomavo have opened and closed several times in the Moncton area.
A company with the Tomavo name and logo once sat on Mapleton Road in Moncton. That shut down, and shortly after another opened in the Dieppe Industrial Park.
That store also closed, and Tomavo now has a store on Mountain Road in Moncton.
As of November 15, Tomavo’s website lists its locations as Bedford, Bayer’s Lake, and Moncton. In late October, that list also included a Fredericton location, at 9 Riocan Ave., but that entry has since been taken down.
A cursory search online for Tomavo’s Fredericton location shows that it’s been temporarily closed. An attempt to call the Fredericton store was unanswered. Tomavo opened its Fredericton location on February 26, 2021.
Huddle contacted Tomavo Executive Assistant Tina Black in early October asking for comment on the matter. In a brief email correspondence, Black said she would arrange for an interview with Abualsoud, but never contacted Huddle again after that.
Huddle has reached out several times since but has not received any response.
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].