Wedding season is a few months away and some Winnipeg couples might be short of a caterer and their down payment.
Caitlin Turcotte and Mark Ribeiro are one of those couples.
“Of course it’s stressful, it’s frustrating,” Ribeiro said.
Their big day is in May — and while Turcotte says she’s “jumping with joy” in anticipation, her joy was tempered by the fact that their wedding is fast approaching and they’re without a caterer and their $1,000 deposit is gone .
Turcotte said they shut down Modern Plate Catering in November. Two months later, she said she received an email from the company informing the couple it was closing due to financial difficulties due to the pandemic.
The company issued an apology, along with a list of other catering recommendations.
“It’s understandable that during the pandemic a business could close, a lot of things are closing and a lot of things are happening,” Turcotte said, adding she had asked for a refund.
Another email from the companies stated that there were no money to be returned due to the severe impact of the pandemic.
“There are no funds available to repay deposits as the company is in bankruptcy,” the email said.
“It’s really annoying, we’re quite stressed now. We still have another deposit to pay for another caterer and our wedding is about four months away,” Turcotte said.
If the catering company goes bankrupt, the couple and others may find it difficult to get their money back.
Rick Schwartz of the law firm Tapper Cuddy said that in typical corporate bankruptcy cases, there are multiple creditors, such as banks and government agencies, who get paid first, leaving customers empty-handed.
“All sorts of other creditors that really have a much higher priority than someone who has no collateral, and that’s what a customer of any company would normally be, an unsecured creditor,” Schwartz said.
Turcotte said they’ve found another caterer and hope to finalize the details, but they’re not so confident of getting their $1,000 deposit back.
“We’ll try,” Turcotte said.
CTV News was unable to reach anyone from Modern Plate Catering.
An email reply to CTV News said it has closed its doors and appreciates all the love and support it has received over the years.