The Breakfast Klub sues over Bush Airport location, accusing prominent City Hall consultant of fraud

The Breakfast Klub has sued a prominent City Hall consultant, accusing her of making false promises to include the popular restaurant in her bid for a Bush Airport food and beverage contract, and then squeezing the eatery out of the deal. The restaurant, owned by Marcus Davis, sued Cindy Clifford in December, accusing her of fraudulent inducement to a contract, among other claims. The lawsuit alleges Clifford and her partners have nixed one of the The Breakfast Klub's two airport locations from the contract's plans before the 10-year term ends, allowing Clifford and her partners to reap profit from the space while leaving Davis in the lurch. The restaurant is seeking at least $1 million in damages. “Clifford and her partners used (The Breakfast Klub) to win the airport contract and are now taking steps to try to exclude (The Breakfast Klub) from the promised airport concessions agreement,” the lawsuit reads. “Clifford is now evincing the real purpose of the fraud — i.e., to take over all the operations so that Clifford and her partners can make all the profits to the exclusion of (The Breakfast Klub).” RELATED: Awarding airport contracts is high-stakes affair Clifford, a prolific consultant who has been managing airport deals and other contracts at City Hall for decades, has denied wrongdoing. Clifford is part of a business group called Houston 8, which landed the lucrative Bush Airport concessions contract in 2015 as partner to the global concessionaire, HMS Host International. John Thomas, Clifford's attorney, said the lawsuit has no merit. “This is a shakedown. Ms. Clifford is not even a party to the contract with the operator of the airport concession and did not negotiate a contract with The Breakfast Klub,” Thomas said. “(The Breakfast Klub) did threaten to sue the operator under the actual contract, but backed off when they realized that the contract provided for the loser to pay all fees and court costs in the event they were not successful. Ms. Clifford believes that (The Breakfast Klub)’s concept did not perform well and that was the reason for the termination.” Ben Hall, a former city attorney and candidate for mayor in 2013 and 2015, is representing The Breakfast Klub. BACKGROUND: City approves airport deal, lobbyists feud The Breakfast Klub had two locations in Terminal A beginning in January 2017, one operating as full-service restaurant and one smaller, express location offering counter service. The full-service location remains open under another company, Davis said. The lawsuit centers on the counter service location. Davis said it was operated by Clifford and her partners but did not met The Breakfast Klub's business standards. Clifford's lawyer has said The Breakfast Klub simply did not work out there. That location closed after the onset of COVID-19, and the partnership told Davis later it would stay closed. The dispute involves one of the most lucrative and high-stakes contracts at City Hall. Jockeying for those contracts often results in so-called “food fights” at City Council, with disputes among competing bidders and council members spilling into public view. When the city approved the contract in 2015, an opposing lobbyist accused Clifford of shoving him during an altercation outside City Council's chambers. Clifford said at the time they exchanged words, but she “merely touched him to move out of the way.” City Council currently is dealing with such a fight right now on a separate contract, as Pappas Restaurants wages a public campaign to keep its foothold at Hobby Airport. The city has proposed giving the deal to a competing company, Areas, after an unusually lengthy bidding process. FOOD FIGHT: Pappas' Hobby Airport feud with Houston City Hall will last another week. Here are the key issues. The lawsuit marks the second time Clifford has been sued for her work on the airport contract. Three of her Houston 8 business partners on the deal — former Houston Rocket Clyde Drexler, Rafael Acosta, and Ricardo Castaneda — sued her in 2020. The trio said Clifford maintained sole access with the parent company on the deal, denied copies of distribution checks from the company, and reported income from those checks on tax documents that the partners did not receive, forcing them to pay taxes on money they never saw. Clifford denied those charges, as well. The lawsuit was settled in March 2022. In The Breakfast Klub’s case, Davis said Clifford and her partners used the restaurant’s name to “sweeten the pot,” and now are trying to use The Breakfast Klub’s space in the airport to keep more profit for themselves. “I’m not trying to make a big stink of it. We put a lot of work into that. ... For an operation my size, I’m not a billion-dollar corporation, I can’t just put that effort in,” Davis said. “To have the deal snatched out from under us, in the way and manner that it was snatched from us, I thought it was unfair and I thought it was unjust.” The lawsuit alleges Clifford made several promises to secure The Breakfast Klub’s participation and then promptly broke them once the deal was signed. Among them: that the restaurant would be in the airport for 10 years; that it would be treated fairly, that its food quality and customer service requirements would be honored at all times; and that Clifford’s team would provide competent and conscientious restaurant and vendor services when operating the brand. “(W)hile Clifford’s partners were controlling (The Breakfast Klub) site customers were ignored,” the lawsuit reads. “Customers constantly complained that (The Breakfast Klub)’s assigned facility had no personnel at its counter, lights were turned off during business hours, and the food items were either not consistently available and/or food items were poorly prepared and presented.” Alex Brown, a managing attorney of commercial litigation at the Lanier Law Firm, said The Breakfast Klub will have to show Clifford knew the promises were false when she made them. Brown is not involved in the case and does not know either party. “They’re going to have to show that this person knew at the time they made these representations that they were false,” Brown said. “That’s going to be a bit of a he said, she said situation. You’re not going to get a lawsuit dismissed. It sounds like a case that would go to a jury if the parties want it to.” Part of the response Clifford’s attorney filed in court said the contract “expressly disclaimed” the promises The Breakfast Klub accuses her of making. The fraudulent inducement claim, Brown said, can get around that kind of contract language, but only if the plaintiff shows Clifford knew she was making false statements. dylan.mcguinness@chron.com

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The Breakfast Klub sues over Bush Airport location, accusing prominent City Hall consultant of fraud

The popular restaurant accuses consultant Cindy Clifford of making false promises to get the eatery to join her proposal.

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