Ask ELi: Why Is Flap Jack Still Closed?

For six months, Flap Jack’s doors in the Frandor shopping area have remained shuttered after a kitchen fire, leaving loyal customers of the landmark restaurant wondering when it will reopen.

Owner Jozef Gjonaj and his staff recently told East Lansing Info that they are eager for Flap Jack to reopen, but have been unable to obtain insurance funds needed to repair the damage from the April 20 fire. 

Gjonaj purchased the restaurant in 2011 and said it has been in operation for more than 40 years. If you visit the restaurant today, you will find messages scrawled on the windows, decrying Auto-Owners Insurance for its alleged failure to pay the restaurant’s insurance claim. 

“They are our neighbors,” Gjonaj said of the insurance company headquartered in Lansing. “I assumed they will be there for us if we ever need it.

“I thought they were there for us as a neighbor and as an insurer.”

Gjonaj hired Jeff Moss as his public adjuster, a professional who serves as an intermediary between a policyholder and an insurance company. Moss told ELi the April 20 fire occurred on one of the grills before the restaurant opened, as staff were preparing for the day. By 9 a.m., Gjonaj had called him to report the fire.

Moss said he handled a previous insurance claim for Flap Jack under a former owner. In 2010, a fire in a neighboring unit caused smoke and water damage to the restaurant. At the time, a different insurance provider held the policy, and Moss said he had no difficulty obtaining payment.

Moss, who has worked as a public adjuster for 33 years and owns his own business, said the claims process began normally, with approximately two months of investigation by Auto-Owners.

“They were trying to see if the grill fire could be blamed on the company that had repaired the grill,” he said. “Then they decided they were not gonna move forward [with that] and said they were just gonna pay the claim.”

On June 25, Moss submitted a $2.2 million claim to repair interior damage and replace booths, kitchen equipment, air units and fixtures destroyed in the fire.

But Moss said Auto-Owners repeatedly found ways to delay the process whenever he believed progress was being made.

“They kept asking whether Jozef owns the things inside the restaurant, like the booths and the built-ins,” he said. “So we gave them the lease. Not only that, but the owner of the mall sent a letter to Auto Owners to explain … all of these things inside are the responsibility of J&G Restaurant [Gjonaj’s company].”

Moss said a second letter from building owner Sam Eyde identified each item and again stated that it belonged to Gjonaj.

Over the summer, Gjonaj said he received verbal approval from Auto-Owners Insurance to proceed with demolition of affected areas of the restaurant, including the kitchen and several booths. But he said the lack of payment halted the work.

“I’m bankrupt,” he said. “A lot of my employees, they’re even losing their unemployment. And they phone me all the time. I lost a lot of customers, I’m pretty sure, and they [might] not be there when we can reopen again.”

The representatives from Auto-Owners Insurance who have handled the claim did not respond to requests for comment from ELi. 

Gjonaj said his 40 employees have been out of work for six months.

Auto-Owners made a partial payment of $126,401.18 to cover “loose belongings,” such as menus and chairs, Moss said.

“That’s a drop in the bucket,” he said last week in a phone interview with ELi. “Jozef’s already having to pay me to handle this for him. He’s on the verge of having to hire an attorney to sue them for a breach of contract. He’s going into surgery [this] week and it’s all causing a bit of stress.”

Heart problems landed Gjonaj in the hospital for 10 days over the summer. He places some of the blame for his health problems on stress caused by the insurance dispute.

“I mean, I cannot pay my bills and my employees are getting hurt,” he said.

Lenora, a Flap Jack manager who asked that her last name not be published, said the timing of the closure has been particularly difficult for the business.

“The fall is our busiest season due to the football season at MSU,” she said. “The employees are the ones impacted the most especially right now with the economy and now the holidays approach.

“Unemployment only pays a fraction and it’s ending. It’s caused a lot of financial hardship with the employees. The people getting hurt here…[are] the employees who’ve been there for so many years [and] the customers who have been like a second family to them, because we’ve seen them more than we’ve seen our own families.”

Carol, another employee who asked that her last name not be published, has worked at Flap Jack since 2002. She said her husband has wanted her to retire for years.

“I’ll still go back in and work because I love the people I work with,” she said. “I love the customers.”

Carol said she started as a busser before becoming a cook and a hostess. She said she and other employees began collecting Social Security retirement benefits after their personal savings ran out.

“Some of the other employees had to find other jobs,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s because of my age or what — I applied around — but I ended up taking my Social Security even though I wasn’t going to do that for a while.

“I’m pretty sure most of [the employees] who found new jobs will probably come back to work with us. They love our customers and our community. I would hope that they would.”