Portuguese Bend, the popular Downtown Long Beach distillery that opened in 2019, has officially closed its kitchen, and the future of the company is the subject of a tangle of litigation between its owners that allege fraud, a toxic work environment, poor quality alcohol and conflicts of interest, all of which apparently helped fuel the business’s demise.
When the distillery and restaurant opened in April 2019 at the corner of Third Street and The Promenade North, it was the city’s first distillery. It weathered the pandemic closures of businesses by pivoting to making hand sanitizer and selling cocktails to go, and it has tried to work around issues that have recently plagued Downtown, such as construction, crime and homelessness, which other businesses have said are threatening their ability to survive.
It’s unclear what exactly led to Portuguese Bend’s recent kitchen closure, but a series of court records show that trouble has been brewing for years.
Court filings paint a picture of a toxic workplace, with its two founding partners at odds over how the business’s assets should be deployed, the quality of the alcohol being produced and who was truly in charge of the business.
Shortly after its opening in 2019, the founders began arguing in front of employees and customers, and disagreements unfolded over how funds were being spent, according to court filings.
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