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To: Secret Agent Man; All

Was curious to see if Akron Beacon-Journal wrote about the closing (which happened in early Oct.) Here:

http://www.ohio.com/news/local-news/vegiterranean-closes-after-four-years-lawsuit-filed-1.238427

EXCERPTS:
>>VegiTerranean closes after four years; lawsuit filed
By Lisa Abraham
Beacon Journal food writer

>>Chrissie Hynde rolled into town on a Harley-Davidson dressed like a waitress and bearing a platter of hors d’oeuvres to open her VegiTerranean restaurant in 2007.
Her departure was much less auspicious — mired with debts, legal troubles and a dissolved business partnership that arose from the nationally acclaimed vegan eatery.

>>The Akron native and lead singer of the band the Pretenders, Hynde announced the closing of her restaurant Sunday, posting the following message on the restaurant’s website and Facebook page:

(you can see that on the link above of the restaurant’s site)

>>On Monday, Testa Builders, which owns the Northside Lofts at 21 Furnace St., where VegiTerranean was located, filed suit against the restaurant, seeking a judgment of more than $420,000 for “value received and in consideration of certain construction work and services provided by Testa.”
Joel Testa, chief operating officer for Testa Companies, said the lien was for money his company had put into the build-out of the restaurant, which still was not paid back, and was filed to protect the builders in case anyone else had tried to attack the restaurant’s assets.

>>“I’m heartbroken. I thought it was a fantastic restaurant, the food was incredible. I love the concept and my heart goes out to not only Chrissie — it’s got to be very hard to close down her dream — but more importantly for the staff and people who had to be sent home last night. You never like to see anybody lose their job,” Testa said.
Attempts to reach Hynde for comment were not successful. Attorney Patrick J. Wack of Fairlawn, who is listed as statutory agent for the restaurant, also did not return a phone call seeking comment.

>>Summit County Common Pleas Court records show more than 20 judgment liens against the restaurant dating back to 2009 by the Ohio Department of Taxation and the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation for unpaid taxes and insurance premiums.
Jones said the IRS also has been at the business asking questions.

>>Testa said he had been working with the state to try and save the restaurant by taking it over, but that became too expensive of an effort, with more than $140,000 in back taxes owed. “When we saw the breadth of them [the liens], we knew it was more than we could afford to put back into the restaurant,” Testa said. “We were trying to save it.”

(snip)
>>Within months of opening in Akron, Duplain announced that the restaurant was eyeing locations in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Las Vegas. None of those materialized...Jones said lack of business was not the root cause of the closing.


35 posted on 12/15/2011 11:01:59 AM PST by raccoonradio
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies ]


To: raccoonradio

>>Jones said lack of business was not the root cause of the closing.

Say what!?

I say B.S.


52 posted on 12/15/2011 3:29:01 PM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies ]

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