Dutchie’s Fresh Market says they will do better but former employees doubt it

Dutchie’s and its business owner were fined for wage theft, but some workers are still waiting to get paid. CTV’s Jeff Pickel reports.

After Michael Renkema and Dutchie’s Fresh Market were sentenced for 13 violations of the Employment Standard Act last week, he pledged to “do better.”

Some of his former employees, however, are not optimistic.

The sentencing represented only a fraction of the ESA compliants that have been filed against both Renkema and Dutchie’s.

Since 2010, the Ministry of Labour (MOL) has received more than 80 ESA claims. Some former Dutchie’s employees have been paid back, while others are waiting for the outcome of the Ministry of Labour’s investigation.

Those cases only include people who have gone through the process to file a claim. Others may have chosen not to pursue official action or were unaware of the option to do so.

The ministry said eight ESA violation investigations were launched between April 2024 and April 2025, and one claim was closed after a compliance order was issued.

Four Ukrainian employees who first spoke to CTV News Kitchener in 2024, who were owed thousands in unpaid wages, said they are still waiting for payment.

Aditya Guleria, a 21-year-old student from India, began working at Dutchie’s in June 2024 and left the store in February 2025. He shared audio tapes in which Renkema allegedly yelled and berated Guleria, and who also claimed Renkema grabbed him by the collar on more than one occasion.

Guleria was one of the employees who said they still have not been paid and has renewed hope for a resolution, now that the other case has come to an end.

“I am hoping so, because 13 people got their money back,” he said.

But Guleria believes it may be unlikely unless Renkema faces further prosecution by the Ontario government.

“He will not do it on his own,” he said. “He had to go through the court because he will never pay anyone. I know him, never pays someone.”

In a statement to CTV News after his sentencing on June 20, Renkema blamed his inability to pay workers on a refrigeration contractor he hired for the Gateway Park Drive store in December 2021. About half of the 80 ESA claims, however, were filed prior to the opening of the Kitchener location.

Both Renkema and Dutchie’s were successfully sued by a refrigeration company in 2023.

The company accused Renkema of stopping payments before the work was completed and opening the store before the refrigeration system was ready.

The company won a court ordered judgement against Dutchie’s for $350,000.