Battle between World Cafe Live CEO, former employees grows louder as they speak out

The new CEO and current and former employees at a popular Philly venue continue their battle in a war of words, as all parties speak out.

Speaking out:

"The World Café Live is here to stay," Joe Callahan stated.

He says he got into the World Café Live concert hall to save it. Soon after, the Philly native and tech entrepreneur took over leadership of the Portal organization and got it back up and running in Philly. But, not all employees saw him as a savior.

The backstory:

Some walked out mid-concert a week ago.

"I was the nighttime box office coordinator," former employee Sophia Mattes said. "I was wrongfully terminated alongside about 10 other coworkers of mine for walking out last week after about two months of disrespect. No clear plan of action."

Evelyn Blower, fired from the establishment, said, "I was terminated after participating in a walkout Wednesday night during my shift."

RELATED COVERAGE: Battle brews between World Cafe Live, former employees

The other side:

FOX 29 reporter Steve Keeley asked, "What is the problem here?"

Callahan answered, "The here is miscommunication and when we took over and our leadership team on April 12th, we were not given a proper handoff to the employees, mainly the hourly employees of the organization. We were sheltered from them and then they got fearful. They were misinformed and they reacted."

Dig deeper:

Former employees and artists siding with them and who have canceled planned shows were outside the doors Wednesday night as concertgoers walked past into a sold-out show, stopping to speak with each other.

"We can’t do what we’re doing on the stage without the people who take the tickets, make the food, open the curtains. So, we decided as a group we’re not going on," explained band leader Renee Dreszner.

Callahan expressed his concern, saying, "I think they reacted the wrong way. I think they should have taken a more civil approach to sit down and say, ‘These are our concerns. This is what we’d like to talk to you about and how can you help?’"

He continued, "They were under the impression we were bringing in AI to replace their jobs. They referenced robots who were gonna be bartenders. They made reference to us turning this into a game environment with VR and AR headsets in here, like it was gonna be an arcade which was never the case."

Keeley asked, "Is there any way you're willing to take everybody back and work things out and get the old team back in here and make everybody happy?"

Callahan replied, "So I think it's important to recognize that 90 percent of the team is still here. We're only talking about a handful of people that are currently causing this."

PhiladelphiaBusinessNews