BATON ROUGE - The restaurateur taking over Sammy's on Highland Rd. has decided to keep the name of the popular restaurant and plans to pay back the thousands of dollars in wages owed to every employee.

Wayne Stabiler says he will personally pay back employees at all four locations in an effort to clean up the mess left over from last year. Stabiler says he is working with a CPA to pay back more than $150,000. 

The new Sammy's could be open within 30 days.

After serving Baton Rouge for 30 years, Sammy's Grill closed it's doors on Jan. 10 after months of financial struggles. Employees told 2 On Your Side the restaurant was only paying portions of their paychecks and that many checks were bouncing. 

Stabiler says the new restaurant will not involve the Sammy's former owner, Sammy Nagem.

"All he was trying to do was stay afloat. When you get big too quick, it snowballs and there's no way out. We're are going to come in and make sure they're going to get paid," said Stabiler.

New management plans on having a similar menu to the old restaurant with similar pricing. 

Stabiler owns several restaurants including Little Village in downtown Baton Rouge and Airline Highway, Stab's Steak & Seafood in Central, as well as Palermo Ristorante and Stab's Prime Steak and Seafood.