The trendy Edinburgh restaurant Cabo has closed suddenly, leaving about 20 workers jobless, after its founder was embroiled in a tax-dodging scandal. Staff claim they received payslips from companies they had never heard of and that founder Ryan Bowman continued to act as boss despite a directorship ban.
Staff report confusing payslips and alleged continued management
Workers at the Mexican restaurant on Hanover St told the Daily Record that their employment led to a confusing series of payslips from multiple companies. They also shared WhatsApp group chats where Bowman appears to be acting as the boss in the two months after his three-and-a-half year directorship ban started on July 31 last year.
The Record previously reported that Bowman, founder of Bow Hospitality Group, was forced to resign multiple directorships after his tax dodging led to a ban from the Insolvency Service. His conduct involved the use of a scheme that allowed directors to sell their stricken companies to patsy directors, allowing debts to die.
Workers describe chaos and unpaid pension contributions
Restaurant manager Jenna told the Record that she and other co-workers noticed major discrepancies between payslips and official HMRC tax records. She said that about five different companies appeared on payslips within a few months.
She said: “Our paychecks came from multiple different business names and most of us stopped receiving physical payslips in August 2025. Eventually we started receiving them again but that’s when the different accounts ramped up badly and we weren’t always getting regular payslips or payslips with all the info on them.”
Jenna, 31, who resigned before the restaurant shut down, said: “In my 16 years working across the hospitality industry, I have never experienced such severe mismanagement and blatant disrespect towards staff as I did at Cabo and the Bow Hospitality company. While I chose to cut my losses at the time and walk away for my own sanity and mental well-being, I feel safe coming forward now that I am out of that environment and supported by my former co-workers. We’re all incredibly relieved that these things are finally being exposed.”
Another worker said he has been forced to seek a new job since the restaurant shut earlier this month. He said: “The way the place was run was chaotic and we were never quite sure who we were working for. Staff generally felt that the place was heading for a rocky end.”
Bar supervisor Elsy Pawelak, 32, worked at the Edinburgh restaurant from February to November 2025. She said that on several occasions the power was cut off, leaving the premises in darkness. Elsy added: “One particular day my manager asked me to come into Cabo because we were shut down because the energy supplier turned off our power.”
Hailey Kuzwanski claimed her pension contribution went unpaid for two months before she left Cabo last December. She said she was due to start working at a bizarre new North Korean-themed restaurant called Colonel Kim’s, which was eventually shelved. She added: “I was told not to tell any customers that the new business was at all related to Bow Hospitality and that it would be opening under a completely separate business even though it was still being run/opened by all the same people.”
WhatsApp messages and Bowman's response
Despite the director ban taking effect on July 31 last year, staff claimed Bowman was acting as a boss days later. In one exchange in a managers’ WhatsApp group on August 10, he says: “Honestly guys, this isn’t good enough. I shouldn’t be opening late, losing potential turnover, because your team don’t do their job. Numerous times now. Time to sort.”
In May this year, the Record told how the ban meant Bowman was forced to resign multiple directorships related to his Bow Hospitality group, which was regarded as one of the most up-and-coming operations in Scotland. The entrepreneur was formerly a close associate of Antonio Carbajosa and Kevin Campbell, who were jailed in April for three years for VAT fraud. They previously ran the Mezcal restaurant in Glasgow as co-directors.
Bowman admitted repeatedly using the “Atherton scheme” that allowed directors to mount up debts then exit their debt-ridden companies, leaving replacement directors in place. They were paid to allow their names to be the ones on any mail from creditors looking for their cash. His three-and-a-half year ban followed the dodging of almost £300,000 in PAYE. It is believed HMRC and other creditors lose out on hundreds of millions of pounds each year in the UK through the use of bogus directors and “phoenixing” of companies.
When the Record called Bowman, he said Cabo had been operating in a difficult climate for the hospitality industry. He denied operating as a boss after his directorship ban began but said he may have offered help with a handover to a new management team. Bowman said Cabo had been leased to another company in recent times but would not say who. He said: “I operated it a while back. I don’t operate it any more. We gave up the unit.” He added: “When I was in business I did my utmost to look after people who worked for me.”
