Small business owner fights for $135K after sudden closure of Chicago event supplier

CHICAGO - A Georgia small business owner is seeking answers after Marquee Event Rentals abruptly shut down its Chicago warehouse, leaving what he claims is more than $135,000 in unpaid bills for work his company completed.

Jake Mathis, founder of Southern Reins Logistics, says he’s been fighting for months to recover the funds owed to him by Marquee, a once-prominent party and event supplier.

Mathis, based in Alpharetta, Georgia, began working with Marquee’s Dallas office last year, handling transportation services for large-scale events. At first, the partnership seemed promising, with Marquee paying upfront for his services. However, when the company’s Chicago and Kansas City branches contracted him for more jobs — including transportation work for Lollapalooza — payments stopped coming in.

Now, Mathis says he is left with $135,000 in unpaid bills for work his company completed over the last six to nine months.

"I’m a small business owner, I don’t have private equity, I don’t have investors, I don’t have millions and millions of dollars floating around," Mathis explained. "I have 30 employees and those 30 employees have husbands and wives and kids that they’re trying to feed and put food on their table and that’s a big responsibility for someone like me to carry. So that’s why this hurts so much and that’s why I’m fighting as hard as I’m fighting because they have tons of private equity backing them."

Just before the closure of Marquee’s Chicago warehouse, Event Works announced it had acquired some of the company’s assets. However, Mathis has received no communication about his unpaid invoices, and efforts to reach Marquee’s private equity partners and financial advisors have gone unanswered.

Despite the buyout, Mathis remains in the dark.

"They just got bought out, I’m sure for tens of millions of dollars and we can’t even collect $135,000 for 90 truckloads that we did for them over the last six to nine months," Mathis said, adding to his frustration.

FOX 32 Chicago has attempted to contact Marquee, its financial partners, and Event Works, but so far, no responses have been provided.