7 things to know about former Baltimore restaurateur Gregory Pranzo: ‘rats in the dining room,' unpaid bills

Yahoo

2 days ago

In December 2024, staff at Baltimore's Docks on the Harbor restaurant woke up to find the eatery had closed overnight. The owner, New York-native Gregory Pranzo, would later be accused of emptying the restaurant of furniture, fixtures and decor, in a lawsuit filed by Baltimore-based developer Cordish Cos.
Over several weeks of investigation, The Baltimore Sun found Pranzo launched multiple restaurants across six states and then abruptly closed them, leaving staff, business partners or landlords behind, along with millions of dollars in unpaid bills. The full story ran in print Sunday (and is online here: baltimoresun.com/2025/05/30/docks-harbor-pranzo-baltimore), but here's a quick take on what you should know about Pranzo's business practices.
Celebrity partner: Pranzo has opened and closed restaurants in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, New York and Connecticut over the last decade. He routinely partners with celebrities — including Guy Fieri, Mario Lopez and *NSYNC's Chris Kirkpatrick — and he has opened multiple franchises of Wahlburgers' restaurants, the Wahlberg-brother-owned burger chain (Donnie, Mark and their celebrity chef brother Paul). All save two of Pranzo's restaurants have closed, many racking up debt and health code violations along the way.
Pests in food storage areas: In Baltimore, Docks on the Harbor also earned a closure order from the city's health department after an August 2024 inspection, that followed a customer's complaint about 'rats in the dining room.' Inspectors found 31 health code violations, including clouds of gnats, evidence of rodents and other pests in food storage areas, and a lack of water that prevented staff from washing their hands. The restaurant re-opened two days later, having satisfied most of the city's requirements.
Health-related restaurant closure: Pranzo's Raleigh, North Carolina, Wahlburgers franchise was shut down after the department found his restaurant had lacked hot water for more than three months. The restaurant chose to close instead of immediately fixing the problem, and was evicted for nonpayment of rent before it could reopen.
Multiple lawsuits: In Connecticut, Pranzo was sued by food vendor Sysco Connecticut LLC for an unpaid bill topping $30,000. Records show Pranzo has never responded to the suit and made no payments. In Georgia, Pranzo was sued by his former business partners, Finer Food Services, for more than $2 million. According to the agreement, signed by Pranzo, he admitted 'that he withdrew this sum over time from [Finer Food Services] and/or the [Finer Food Services subsidiaries] without the knowledge and/or consent of … majority member and manager, Barry Bierenbaum.'
Unpaid judgments: The court ordered Pranzo to repay his partners, however, their lawyer said he has been unable to enforce the judgments. And in Florida, Pranzo is named in a lawsuit in district court, which alleges that he violated the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a federal law that bans businesses from using phones or fax machines for unsolicited advertisements. In that 2019 suit, Pranzo was accused of spamming fax machines with more than 125,000 unsolicited faxes over two years to advertise the opening of an Atlanta Wahlburgers. The case is ongoing.
Docks on the Harbor property: In Baltimore, a civil suit against Pranzo by Cordish Cos. alleges Pranzo 'plundered' hundreds of thousands of dollars in fixtures from his Baltimore restaurant early one morning, walking away with tables and chairs, signage, stoves, refrigerators, decor and more. The lawsuit alleges that Pranzo was caught on security camera footage between the hours of 1 and 7 a.m. on Dec. 9 emptying out the restaurant space he rented from Cordish.
$3.2 million lease allegedly unfulfilled: Pranzo also skipped out on a lease valued at about $3.2 million through 2032, a court document filed by Cordish's legal team alleges. Past-due charges between October and early December totaled more than $130,000 for rent and trash, water/sewer and HVAC service, per an account statement. Cordish's lawsuit argues Pranzo emptied out the restaurant with the intent to defraud.
'Pranzo's bad intent is readily evidenced by the midnight timing,' the suit reads. 'Why hide under the cover of night, unless he was following the playbook of Bob Irsay stealing the Colts in a Mayflower truck?'
Lorraine Mirabella contributed reporting to this story. Have a news tip? Contact Kate Cimini at The Baltimore Sun, at [phone] or [e-mail].