Legal Fees to Defend Inika Foods
Donation protected
What’s Happening…
As most of you know, we were until recently the café at Vegan Fine Foods in Ft. Lauderdale. Our café was an instant success, bringing in more and more customers everyday. We loved the location, the neighborhood and our ever growing customer base, knowing we were providing a huge need for vegan fare.
Under the original agreement with Steven Smith, the then sole owner of Vegan Fine Foods, we paid rent for our space plus a percentage of our sales, and to our detriment shared a register system with the rest of the market place.
To make it work, we practically lived at the café, sleeping only 2 hours a night. A labor of love, for sure, but we really believed in what we were doing.
Why We Need Your Help…
Our goodwill however, was not reciprocated by Steven Smith, who consistently withheld our sales. We had to fight to get payments from him. This untenable situation made it impossible to buy food and pay employees, forcing us to put a majority of our food purchases on credit cards, which is now accumulating interest. The situation became so difficult and his behavior so dishonest, we had no choice but to leave.
Leaving something we worked so hard to build was devastating. It was also financially destructive. We opened a new, larger commercial kitchen with the equipment we needed to handle the volume at the café, which compounds our situation further still.
Presently Steven Smith owes us tens of thousands of dollars. It has been more than 6 months since we left and he has not paid us a penny, even though he assured us he would.
To make matters worse, he is now suing us for leaving!
How You Can Help…
We never went after Steven Smith for the stolen sales because we could not afford a lawyer, but now that we are being sued, we have no choice. We need your help.
All funds collected will go towards this lawsuit; if there is any remaining money we will donate it to Farm Sanctuary.
If you could support our GoFundMe by making a donation or sharing it with your network, we would greatly appreciate it.
If you have any questions, advice or concerns, please contact us! Any help at all will be so very valuable and appreciated!
As most of you know, we were until recently the café at Vegan Fine Foods in Ft. Lauderdale. Our café was an instant success, bringing in more and more customers everyday. We loved the location, the neighborhood and our ever growing customer base, knowing we were providing a huge need for vegan fare.
Under the original agreement with Steven Smith, the then sole owner of Vegan Fine Foods, we paid rent for our space plus a percentage of our sales, and to our detriment shared a register system with the rest of the market place.
To make it work, we practically lived at the café, sleeping only 2 hours a night. A labor of love, for sure, but we really believed in what we were doing.
Why We Need Your Help…
Our goodwill however, was not reciprocated by Steven Smith, who consistently withheld our sales. We had to fight to get payments from him. This untenable situation made it impossible to buy food and pay employees, forcing us to put a majority of our food purchases on credit cards, which is now accumulating interest. The situation became so difficult and his behavior so dishonest, we had no choice but to leave.
Leaving something we worked so hard to build was devastating. It was also financially destructive. We opened a new, larger commercial kitchen with the equipment we needed to handle the volume at the café, which compounds our situation further still.
Presently Steven Smith owes us tens of thousands of dollars. It has been more than 6 months since we left and he has not paid us a penny, even though he assured us he would.
To make matters worse, he is now suing us for leaving!
How You Can Help…
We never went after Steven Smith for the stolen sales because we could not afford a lawyer, but now that we are being sued, we have no choice. We need your help.
All funds collected will go towards this lawsuit; if there is any remaining money we will donate it to Farm Sanctuary.
If you could support our GoFundMe by making a donation or sharing it with your network, we would greatly appreciate it.
If you have any questions, advice or concerns, please contact us! Any help at all will be so very valuable and appreciated!
Co-organizers (2)
Natasha Minnerly
Organizer
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Nicolle Minnerly
Co-organizer