FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The unraveling of Salt 7, once a buzzy hot spot on Las Olas Boulevard inside the ICON building, continues with another twist—this time involving a former bartender and the restaurant’s embattled owner.
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John Kostoglou, the owner of Salt 7 Fort Lauderdale, is now accusing one of his former employees, Cassandra Crumbly, of stealing—an allegation police have deemed baseless.
The accusations come just days after Crumbly took to social media to warn others about the restaurant’s financial practices.
“SALT 7 IS A BUSINESS THAT STEALS FROM THEIR STAFF... THEY DON’T PAY THEIR STAFF THEIR CREDIT CARD TIPS OR ANY TIPS.. THEY DON’T PAY THEIR KITCHEN STAFF.. THEY DON’T PAY.. ANYONE,” Crumbly wrote in a widely shared TikTok post, calling it a public service message.
The post quickly exploded with support. At last count, it had 676 replies, including from many others who said they too are owed money by the restaurant.
“I DON’T WANT OTHER PEOPLE TO GO THERE AND GET SCAMMED AND TRY TO WORK THERE,” she added.
Crumbly told Local 10’s Jeff Weinsier she quit after going unpaid for weeks.
“I worked there for three months -- I only got two paychecks,” she said. “I’m owed $3,800 in credit card tips and another hourly check.”
Salt 7’s financial woes are well-documented. WPLG has aired several investigations on the restaurant’s collapse. The once-popular Las Olas destination filed for bankruptcy protection, but the case was dismissed after missing a deadline. Court records show the business owes money to both its landlord and several suppliers.
The restaurant was officially evicted from its ICON Las Olas location last Tuesday.
When asked about the mounting complaints, owner John Kostoglou initially told Local 10, “That is incorrect.” But in the same phone call, he accused Crumbly of theft, without providing any proof.
“The one employee that basically made the video... that person shut off the credit card machine and told customers they couldn’t pay with a credit card and took the cash,” Kostoglou claimed. “That is why she had not been paid.”
When asked if he had called police at the time of the alleged incident, Kostoglou said: “We are gathering the evidence. We have it from our POS system and we are going to file charges... I have not filed them yet.”
But records show he did eventually file a police report -- only after being confronted by Local 10.
According to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, a report was filed April 1, 2025. In the report, Kostoglou alleged that on a busy Saturday night, Crumbly shut down the credit card machine to skew numbers and took more cash than she should have.
However, the police were clear: there is no video evidence, and the allegations are based solely on “business performance history.”
“John does not have video evidence of Cassandra stealing money that isn’t tip money and is alleging the above statements based off of the business’s performance history,” the report states.
Fort Lauderdale Police Department spokesperson Casey Liening confirmed to Local 10 that “this will be a civil matter. The two parties are making allegations but no information/evidence was provided to support the claims therefore no criminal investigation will be conducted at this time.”
Despite his claims, Kostoglou has not provided any documentation to substantiate his accusations. And Crumbly, for her part, is calling the theft allegations “false.”
“Hopefully he will just disappear and this whole Salt stuff can be over,” she told Local 10.
Even more former employees have reached out to Local 10 after the stories aired, echoing Crumbly’s complaints about missing pay and unreceived tips, including kitchen staff who said they don’t receive tips at all.
“We are going through everyone and we are going to take care of people,” Kostoglou said at one point -- but that hasn’t stopped the complaints from pouring in.
In response to the troubling claims, Seminole Gaming stepped up and hosted a job fair specifically for former Salt 7 employees.
Several were hired on the spot last Friday.