A Twin Cities Burger Restaurant Owner Is Facing Felony Tax Charges

The owner of a popular metro-area burger chain has been charged with multiple tax crimes

The owner of local burger chain Hamburguesas El Gordo is facing felony-level charges for tax evasion and fraud. Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena announced in a news release May 8 that ​​​Claudia Gutierrez Mendez has been charged with five counts of filing a false or fraudulent tax return, four counts of failure to pay taxes, and one count of failure to file a tax return, leaving her with an outstanding tax obligation of over $260,000.

According to the criminal complaint, the Minnesota Department of Revenue began to investigate Gutierrez Mendez in March of 2020 for failing to “remit” — a.k.a. submit to the state government — the cash from state sales taxes and use taxes her restaurants had collected, as she was required to do monthly.

After reviewing Hamburguesas El Gordo’s tax returns and other financial records, according to the criminal complaint, investigators found that between March 2018 and November 2022 Gutierrez Mendez had underreported the restaurants’ sales (and thus the amount of sales tax owed), namely by failing to include all the sales made via third-party delivery services.

By comparing Hamburguesas El Gordo’s actual revenue with the sales tax Gutierrez Mendez reported and remitted from March 2018 to September 2023, investigators also found that she had kept sales tax owed to the state “for her own benefit.” She also failed to file a tax return between December 2022 and February 2023, according to the criminal complaint.

When investigators interviewed Gutierrez Mendez in June 2023, according to the criminal complaint, she acknowledged that she knew that filing false returns, failing to pay taxes, and failing to file tax returns were crimes — three months later, in another interaction with investigators, she was unable to explain the discrepancies in her federal tax returns, sales tax returns, and credit card sales, telling investigators she had made a number of mistakes in running her business.

Eater reached out to Gutierrez Mendez for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication. Her next court appearance will be held in Hastings on June 18 at 9 a.m.