UPDATE: "Cash Mob" Set Friday for Pub With $190,000 BottleRock Deficit

UPDATE: 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Supporters of the Up & Under Pub and Grill in Point Richmoond have organized a "cash mob" to help the Bay Area eatery and watering hole that is out $190,000 in unpaid fees after the BottleRock Napa Valley music festival.

Owners Nikki Villa and Nathan Trivers said this week they fear they may go out of business if they don't get their payment from BottleRock soon.

Michaela Graham, a pub supporter, said she is urging friends, patrons and the community to come to Up & Under starting at 7 p.m. Friday and buy a beer or glass of wine.

"Saddened by reading the below Facebook status yesterday, I decided to set up a cash mob to help them," Graham posted on Facebook. "That means that we'll be mobbing them with lots of people and if everyone buys a beer, the volume will add up.

"The more people are coming, the better," Graham said. "It's taking business to a higher level, by creating a bigger volume of purchases for that day.

"If you believe in small, local businesses, who make a difference to the community, then please, please come out and buy one of their specialty beers or wines or other drinks," she added. "Nate and Nikki are awesome people and their pub is a central meeting point in the community of Point Richmond (about 10 min. north of Berkeley)."

For more info on the cash mob and directions to the Pub, click here.

ORIGINAL STORY: Monday, July 1, 2013
Owners of Up & Under Pub and Grill in Point Richmond are going public on Facebook in hopes that it will press Napa's BottleRock Music Festival to pay them the $190,000 they say they are owed.

Without the payment, they said, they are in danger of going out of business.

"We served over 8,500 meals," said owners Nikki Villa and Nathan Trivers in their post on Facebook. "We own a successful restaurant and thought that taking this job would bring us to the next level.

"We were wrong," they said.

Villa and Trivers said their company did all of the backstage catering for the bands, the artists, stagehands and festival workers for BottleRock but have not yet been paid.

"We are owed around $190,000," they said.  "This may not seem like a lot to some people, but to us it is life-changing."

A BottleRock spokesperson was not immediately available for comment Monday.

According to earlier published reports, BottleRock owes about $630,000 to more than 140 workers.  At least one BottleRock vendor -- a bus transport firm -- has filed suit to claim what is owed.

At Up and Under Pub and Grill's Facebook page, meanwhile, the anguish is palpable.

"We have fronted all of our cost for the festival and now our bills are due to our vendors," the owners said. "We paid all of our 33 employees that made this event successful.

"But we have not seen a final payment," they added. "Our once-successful restaurant is in jeopardy of closing it doors."