Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles hopes to remain open after discrimination lawsuit, bankruptcy

The parent company of Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles has filed for bankruptcy protection in the face of a nearly $3.2u2009million settlement it owes to a former employee who claimed discrimination.

The Chapteru200911 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Friday came after a judge ordered East Coast Foods Inc. to pay roughly $1.6u2009million to Daniel Beasley of Compton and the remainder to his attoeys.

East Coast Foods estimates that it owes creditors between $10u2009million and $50u2009million, but has assets amounting to less than $50,000.

The action doesn’t necessarily mean that any of the seven eateries will be closing, according to Glen Mertens, an attoey for the Rostam Law firm, which is representing East Coast.

“They don’t own the buildings and some of the leases are coming up,” he said. “But what happens to the locations will ultimately be determined by the bankruptcy judge as part of the Chapteru200911 reorganization.”

East Coast declined to comment on the Chapter 11 filing, although a representative with the company’s human resources department said the restaurants will remain open.

“Our doors aren’t going to close,” she said. “We’re still serving great food.”

The Pasadena location is at 830u2009N. Lake Ave. The others are at 5006u2009W. Pico Blvd., West Los Angeles; 106u2009Manchester Blvd., Losu2009Angeles; 1514u2009N. Gower St., Hollywood; 621u2009W. Manchester Blvd., Inglewood; 730u2009E. Broadway, Long Beach; and 2110u2009S. Harbor Blvd., Anaheim.

Beasley, who is black, filed a discrimination and wrongful-termination lawsuit against East Coast in 2013, claiming he was discriminated against by Latino managers and coworkers at the West L.A. location where he worked. He said his Latino coworkers were treated better than he was and that they were given better working schedules.

When he took his complaints to human resources he was fired and then became homeless, according to media reports.

The iconic soul food restaurant chain has long been a favorite among Southe Califoians, as well as others like rapper Snoop Dog, TV personality Larry King and even President Obama, who made an unaounced stop at one of the restaurants on his way to a 2012u2009fundraiser.

He later joked about it on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

“Originally, it was just a way to be out there and say hi to everybody,” he told Leno. “But once we got in the car ... it smelled pretty good.”

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Mayeer Israel, 35, of Losu2009Angeles was surprised to hear of East Coast’s Chapteru200911 filing when he stopped in at the Roscoe’s in Pasadena on Tuesday.

“I go to all of them when I’ve traveling, including Losu2009Angeles, Hollywood and here,” he said. “I’ve been going to Roscoe’s for 15u2009years. The food reminds me of my grandma’s cooking. I can’t get that anywhere else. I really like the grits and the chicken sausage.”

Marlin Samuel, 43, of Pasadena is another die-hard fan.

“I really like the Jee Jones chicken and cheese omelette,” he said. “When you come here you just get real good food. I hope it doesn’t close.”

The Longu2009Beach-based soul food restaurant chain was founded by Herb Hudson, a Harlem native, in 1975.

Soon after it was opened, Hudson had friends in Motown and TV spread the word to other celebrities.