New allegations of unpaid work at Kitchener, Ont. grocer

New allegations have been made about a Kitchener, Ont. grocer.

More than 10 businesses and vendors told CTV News on Friday that they’re still owed for their services, one day after four former employees claimed they had unpaid wages from Dutchie’s Fresh Food Market.

Some of the businesses, vendors and former workers did not want to be publicly identified by CTV News.

Dennis LeDrew said his business, Integralift Sales and Services based in New Dundee, Ont., did about a dozen smaller jobs at the Kitchener and Waterloo locations in 2020 for Mike Renkema, who is currently on Dutchie’s management team.

According to LeDrew, the relationship soured when he was asked to do a larger job that would cost about $3,400.

Renkema, he alleges, asked to push back payment for 30 days.

“He seemed like a very honest, trustworthy person so that's what I did. I gave him net 30 [days]. We waited net 30 [days] and never heard back. We waited net 60 [days],” he explained. “We had sent them some reminders. Then it went to 120 days and then it just went on and on and on.”

Dennis LeDrew, the owner of Integralift Sales and Services Inc. (Heather Senoran/CTV Kitchener)

LeDrew claims he’s been waiting for the money for more than three years.

“We said we were going to take him to court and we had kind of, you know, looked into it and stuff,” he added. “It was just, he’s got so many suppliers that he owes money to that we were just kind of a drop in the pool compared to what he owed.”

Vendor's experience

Glen Smyth, the owner of Appleflats in Wellesley, Ont., said his company was a vendor at several Dutchie’s locations in 2021 and 2022.

“They paid the first two invoices very quickly, which was about $600 and then stopped paying for the next roughly eight to 10 invoices after that period,” he explained.

That’s when the deal went south.

“The $2,000 worth of payment, it took… between 380 and 400 days to actually get that payment,” Smyth told CTV News. “Payment was only forthcoming after I informed them that I was going to go and talk to news outlets.”

Appleflats also claims Dutchie’s still owes them money.

“As of right now, $923 is outstanding from bills,” Smyth said.

New response from Dutchie’s  

In a statement sent to CTV News, Dutchie’s management wrote: “We have been given limited information about the allegations. However, we are dealing with all allegations promptly and appropriately and will continue to do so. We have no further comment about this at this time.”

A Dutchie's Fresh Food Market store in Kitchener, Ont. on March 14, 2024. (Dan Lauckner/CTV Kitchener)

Getting paid

Chris Glaubitz, the former owner of the forklift business Provincial Lift Truck, said it’s been five or six years since he dealt with Dutchie’s – but he'll never forget it.

Glaubitz claims he was still owed money months after doing jobs for the grocer.

“We had to chase them and chase them at the time,” he recalled. “[Renkema] had excuses for somebody that passed away, [and] that I had no sympathy. He sent me some nasty emails and [I] finally had to go in the store [to] make sure that I got paid.”

Glaubitz described the lengths he was willing to go to make sure he got paid.

“I had to physically threaten him, that's how I got paid. There was no way around it,” he alleges. “That’s the only way I was going to get paid, to physically walk into the store and sit him down and demand to see him and say: ‘This doesn’t work for me.’”

Glaubitz, Smyth and LeDrew all claim they dealt with Renkema directly about their lack of pay.

Viewer response

After CTV News aired its first story on March 14, dozens of people reached out to share their own experiences with Dutchie’s. Many didn’t want to identify themselves in interviews but all made similar allegations about not being paid by Dutchie’s after either working there, providing services or product.