Popular Parkdale burger joint shuts down after rent dispute
Weeks after opening, owner says landlord raised price tenfold
Less than a month after opening, a popular Parkdale burger joint has shut down over a rent dispute.
Aunty Lucy’s owner Chieff Bosompra says that his business, which opened June 3 cooking out of Duggan’s Brewery at Queen Street West and Brock Avenue, will close after serving customers on Canada Day.
“It feels slightly disheartening to be strong-armed,” Bosompra says. “But in business you need to be able to read the room and that’s something he didn’t do — raising the rent by 10 times a month later is never OK.”
A post Wednesday afternoon on the brewery’s Instagram disputes Bosompra’s story.
“We invited them in at the heat of the epidemic. RENT FREE, please just cover the utilities they might generate, around $600 a month we thought,” the post read. We agreed to a one month pop up. A good deal, a steal, just ask anyone in the business. Turns out they were so successful they actually used around $2,500 in utilities, garbage, lots of gas etc in costs for the month, that’s a lot of burgers.”
The post said Bosompra’s business has only paid $500, although both sides have known about the extra costs for a while now.
“We were told by Aunt Lucy’s that they wanted to stay, but are not willing to pay ANY RENT (and it turns out any of the extra costs we incurred for them being here),” the post read. “Well, so who is going to help pay the landlord? Seems not Aunt Lucy’s.” Throughout the last few weeks, Bosompra said that Duggan’s Brewery owner Michael Duggan had congratulated him on the success of his new venture.
Bosompra said he inquired about extending their agreement — which was never signed in a contract — after his restaurant fulfilled thousands of orders in a month and sold out on multiple occasions.
Last week, Bosompra said, he was approached without warning by Duggan who told him that for the month of July, he’d need 10 times the rent he paid for June. Unable to fulfil that amount, and after consulting with realtors who agreed that the rent (which only covered the kitchen space) was way overpriced, Bosompra said he offered to meet Duggan halfway with the rent. Bosompra said he also offered to help him market his brewery and run his Instagram account.
“I felt like we tried hard to meet him halfway and offer him cash value to help him with his beer sales. I have no malice toward him, but he was stuck on a number I couldn’t meet,” Bosompra said.
The Star was unable to reach Duggan for an interview. Bosompra is now working with commercial real estate agents to quickly find a shortterm spot where they can set up for the summer months.
Despite the hurdles, Bosompra said he’s still going to keep his momentum going and is hopeful about the future of his business.