People who donated money to the Bainbridge Bakers online are getting their money back.

According to a statement posted by bakery owner Mike Loudon on GoFundMe, an online fundraising site, the $8,000 collected over the past two weeks to keep the bakery open will be refunded.

Last week, Ben Goldsmith, a manager at the bakery, set up a GoFundMe account, claiming that $100,000 was needed to cover payroll and keep the bakery going.

Goldsmith — who said the online fundraiser had bakery owner Loudon’s approval — claimed the business was suffering from a theft of funds but did not provide specifics.

The online appeal came amid allegations that Loudon had not been paying employees for their work at the Winslow business. While some islanders eagerly assisted the bakery in its time of need, others questioned how the donations would be used and if the money would really go to baristas, bakers and other staff.

Loudon acknowledged concerns about the fundraiser in his GoFundMe message, which was posted Wednesday.

“Public feedback from the last week and counsel with private advisors has caused us to alter our strategy for securing the funds to meet the bakery’s obligations,” Loudon wrote.

“There has been great concern about the well-intentioned GoFundMe account, and ultimately, in the interest of creating a strong and transparent solution, I am to returning those funds to the donors now, which will be received within two to five days.”

Loudon continued: “They [the donated funds] are not enough to cover what the bakery owes and I believe, as I communicated to our staff this morning, that they deserve a comprehensive solution. I am working around the clock to raise the money and have a few viable approaches that I am pursuing with all the haste possible.”

He encouraged those who wish to support the bakery to contact him via email as “a more structured loan option” is being put together that may provide a “clear remedy” to the current situation.

“Thank you, deeply, for considering to do so,” he added.

Over the last week, through various online forums, residents asked how the money that the business lost could have disappeared and also questioned the bakery’s business practices.

According to information obtained by the Review, Bainbridge Bakers has had nine complaints over wages from employees that have been filed with the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.

Five of those nine cases remain under investigation, according to an official with the agency.

The GoFundMe page for Bainbridge Bakers displayed a zero donation balance Thursday.

Documents obtained by the Review showed a complaint filed against Loudon as early as 2013.

A barista filed a Worker Rights Complaint with Washington State Department of Labor & Industries in June 2013, shortly after she was hired. She started work in March 2013, according to the document, and stated a month later that Loudon often paid employees late.

“Money is owed to the employees, and he recently short-paid the employees,” the worker wrote. “When the business owner discovered that employees were considering filing an L&I complaint for late and short-paid wages and complaining about other scheduling problems, he became very angry and chastised the employees.”

The report continued: “The next day the owner made a false implication against me that I had stolen money. I feel that the false implication was in retaliation to my voicing a complaint to the owner.”

Her complaint highlighted the fact the tips are pooled and that Loudon failed to provide “an accounting to employees of all pooled tips received and frequently fails to pay earned tips for weeks at a time.”