dock580

June 11, 2020

To Our Patrons and Clients, Vendors and Partners, Friends and
Family 

I write today with a heavy heart to inform you of a painful decision
that we have made. Due to the severe impact of the 
shutdown on our business, Dock580 and its three event venues?
Juniper, The Loft, and The Venue?will not reopen for business.
After much consideration, we have determined that it is no longer
?nancially and practically possible to operate our business. This
decision, of course, has been extremely dif?cult to come to, and I
hope with this letter we can explain what led to this point and what
to expect going forward as the company is wound down.

When we opened the doors of our ?rst event center, The Venue, 16
years ago, we were certain that our team had made a top?tier event
location in Columbus, and we were hopeful that the company
would see a quick rise. The expansion to include The Loft in 2009
accelerated that growth, and our recent creation of Juniper in 2017
was to solidify our company as having the best spaces in town.
With the help of a fantastic team, our dreams were ful?lled of
creating a destination that was coveted as a premiere location for
receptions and other events. Up until the events of the past three
months, Dock580 was extraordinarily successful in hosting
countless life-changing events, and our team did it well.

As you know, the event and hospitality industry as a whole has
been decimated by the coronavirus. Our business was not spared.
We were forced to shut down our operations in March, and we
have worked tirelessly in an attempt to bring back both the events
and reopen the Juniper restaurant and bar. Over the past months,
we have reviewed every possible option, consulted with industry
experts, spoken to our lenders, and hired professional advisors to
review every path to reopen. We have even sought out the option
of being acquired by another operator just so the event venues
could remain open. In the end, however, the ongoing restrictions

placed on our business as a result of the coronavirus cannot be
overcome, and the losses that our business has sustained are too
great. As hard as it is, all of our forecasts show that continuing
with the business is simply not feasible.

With the help of our advisers, we have begun to wind down the
business. We have learned that there is a speci?c process to follow
under Ohio law, and we are working with them to follow that
process. The company will not be able to pay all of its ?nancial
obligations; we sincerely regret that not everyone will be made
whole in this process.

To the brides and grooms that have an upcoming reception, and to
their families, we are so very sorry that we will not be able to host
your special day. We extend the same thoughts to our corporate
and family event clients. We know how much time and effort have
been put into the planning of your events?our team has been there
right along with you??and we certainly appreciate the hardship
that this announcement is placing on you to ?nd a new venue. We
received so much joy and satisfaction from hosting so many
weddings, corporate and family events, and we regret that we will
not be able to host yours.

Many of you will have questions and concerns about this
announcement and how it affects you in particular. We have
attempted to address some questions that we know people will
have on the attached information sheet. Of course, our goal is to
help our clients transition to a new venue as easily as possible, and
to the extent we can help with that process, we will. Please be
patient with us as we attempt to process many inquiries.

Once again, thank you for your support of us and our business over
the years.

Sincerely,

Steve Rayo

Questions Answers

1. The Governor of Ohio recently announced that event centers can reopen. Why are
you not reopening?

As you can imagine, we have closely followed all of the developments at the state and local level
regarding ongoing operation restrictions for businesses like ours. We were encouraged then the
announcement was made that event centers could reopen, and we quickly took to a review of the
operating guidelines. We found, however, that the restrictions that remained on our operations
would make it impossible to continue. The restrictions impacted our business model both by
decreasing revenue and increasing expenses. With the requirement that our venues be set up for
social distancing, the number of guests that we could host was nearly cut in half, severely cutting
revenue. At the same time, our staf?ng requirements would be increased due to the need for
extra sanitation and personal services, such as drink service at tables instead of hosting a bar.
These extra expenses, combined with the loss of revenue, simply made it so the business could
not operate without severe losses.

2. What alternatives to closing have you looked at?

Every option has been reviewed and every angle has been examined. We have spoken to all of
the stakeholders in our business, including our landlord, our lenders, and our team. Each of them
has been gracious and understanding, and all have been willing to work with us. We have even
reached out to other people in our industry with the hope that they might acquire can continue
with our business. But, as explained above, the ongoing restrictions are simply too
much to overcome and the ?nancial model of our business does not work under those
restrictions.

3. Why don?t you wait until the restrictions are lifted and then reopen?

There are two main reasons that we are making this decision now instead of waiting to see when
restrictions are further lifter. First, in all fairness to those of you who have events scheduled with
us, we wanted to alert you as early as possible to allow as much time as we could for you to
make alternative arrangements. Second, even though we are not currently open, we carry ?xed
expenses that we cannot avoid. Those expenses will continue to accrue, making it even
more dif?cult to reopen at some time in the future. Now is the appropriate time.

4. I paid a deposit for my upcoming event. Will I receive my deposit back?

Unfortunately, the company will not be able to repay those deposits that it received for upcoming
events. During the normal course of business for our company, we provide services in event
planning and other operations leading up to an event, and we relied on the deposits to pay payroll
and other expenses. Our business was run well, and we had reserves such that we could weather
the occasional emergency cancellation or other ?nancial issue. But no one could plan for the
coronavirus, and we were simply not set up to handle a government?forced shutdown. Without

any income from the last three months, we simply do not have the ability to repay the event
deposits that we have received in the past.

That said, we are moving forward with a process by which a county court will establish a process
for creditors to submit claims for money they are owed. You will. receive information about that
process in the mail in the coming weeks

5. I have questions about this. Who do I direct them to?

We have attempted to provide a good amount of information in this letter, but we know there
will be more questions. We may be able to answer some basic questions about this, but to the
extent that you are asking a legal question about how this closure affects you, those questions
should be directed to your own legal counsel. That said, you may send us questions by email.
The email address to use is steve.rayo@dock580.com. Please bear with us; we no longer have a
full staff and there will be many inquiries.

6. For the possibility of keeping your event at The Smith Bros? Hardware Complex,
please contact Melissa Johnson at mjohnson@cameronmitchell.com.