Butter Me Up, a breakfast-themed restaurant, has been evicted from Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda less than a year after opening. A "final notice" from the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office is posted outside the restaurant ordering the business to "vacate premises." It states that "The Sheriff will use whatever force necessary to gain entry into the premises for immediate removal of all persons and property." Behind the closed storefront gate, the contents of the restaurant have been left behind.
The restaurant group that owns Butter Me Up also owned the HalfSmoke kiosk in the mall's food court. It has also closed. These developments raise serious questions as to whether the company's long-delayed HalfSmoke location at Rockville Town Square will ever come to pass. No construction inside that location has taken place in the three years since the Rockville outpost was announced.
Can we know why? Anything in particular the the community should know of
ReplyDeleteIt’s an eviction notice, so it probably means the rent hasn’t been paid and the renters have dropped out of sight for whatever reason.
DeleteProbably inadequate business projections or market research, and/or over promised traffic by the landlord. Shoppers at the mall may not have returned to the mall post pandemic as expected, leading to slow to no business. Therefore the owner stops paying rent and abandons the business, writes it all off, possibly declares bankruptcy. Probably a civil matter between landlord and business owner that is going on behind the scenes depending on lease agreement. But, the business could be abandoned for a host of reasons, maybe a key owner/operator has gotten ill and has no time to run the business, they could have more important things to take care of. Lord only knows, but, I guess that is the question, what is going on...well we don't really need all the dirty laundry of this civil matter. Good luck to the business owners.
DeleteThe Sherriff's office may have been limited in what information they could release. This could simply be the business was in default on their lease.
ReplyDeleteIf the Sheriff involved then probably didnt pay their rent.
ReplyDeleteThat's an unfortunate situation. I just hope everyone is ok. It cost a lot of money to get businesses started, and the pandemic and no one wanting to work doesn't help any business. Good luck to the owners.
ReplyDeleteHaving a bad business model or no viable business case are also problems.
DeleteRent or probably also taxes!
ReplyDeleteBeing that it's more than 1 location or business it's probably taxes
ReplyDeleteSherifsdo not evict for taxes
DeleteSheriff's don't evict. The courts do and then the Sheriff helps facilitate the eviction process. They usually show up during foreclosures as well. So it is very possible it could be for taxes also.
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