Dispute between 2 Provo restaurant owners plays out publicly online (2024)

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

The exterior of Locals, a restaurant in downtown Provo, is shown Monday, June 3, 2024.

There’s been a firestorm of reaction on social media regarding the disappearance of equipment from a downtown Provo restaurant, with two separate small businesses that were sharing the same space now at the center of a dispute.

Both have their own perspective of what they say happened.

Locals, a gluten-free restaurant, and Fresko Kitchen Provo, which offered a menu of various classic American and Tex-Mex dishes, were both operating out of the same location, at 300 North and University Avenue, for just under four months.

Locals owner Jessica Boyer says she and Fresko Kitchen owner Jhama Fresneda met while they both were working at The Social, a shared restaurant space in downtown Provo. According to Boyer, the two decided on an agreement in which both establishments would coexist in the same location. “We weren’t business partners, but (it was more of) a joint business venture because we had our individual restaurants. We were just coexisting essentially,” she said.

According to Boyer, she believed costs for equipment, chairs, tables and appliances would be split based on their respective restaurants’ needs. “We paid equally for everything. And then once we got in here we divvied up what each person would use just based on our needs, but everything was split 50-50,” Boyer told the Daily Herald. “We probably would have shared everything if I didn’t have a gluten-free restaurant.”

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

Fresko Kitchen co-owner Angie Ramos and an employee prep food at the restaurant's location in Orem on Monday, June 3, 2024.

Fresneda said there were disputes over kitchen responsibilities, and Fresko Kitchen was served an eviction notice May 23, citing a “failure to comply with food health and safety standards,” though the restaurant took to social media saying the Utah County Health Department never issued it a violation.

The notice stated Fresko Kitchen had a month to move out, and the business would have been on the hook for a June rent payment. But after consulting with a lawyer, Fresneda chose to vacate early on May 28. “We decided to take all our things and move out,” he told the Daily Herald.

Things came to a head that same day when posts began circulating on social media with claims that Locals had possibly been robbed. Shortly after, a crowdfunding campaign was organized by a family member, amassing over $8,000 in donations that are supposed to go toward recouping the “stolen” equipment.

According to Fresko Kitchen Provo’s Facebook page, the items that were removed were ones they owned and have receipts for. “We removed all our equipment and purchases, and we have receipts to prove it,” a post on the page states. “We also left behind equipment we did not purchase, including chairs and two refrigerators and everything that was not owned by Fresko.”

Fresko Kitchen then canceled the business license and health permit that were obtained for the Provo location.

No one affiliated with that business was on the lease, according to Boyer.

Fresneda said he asked that Provo police officers be present as they were gathering items to keep the peace in the event Boyer showed up.

Janna-Lee Holland, the Provo Police Department’s public information officer, said the incident was not a robbery. “This appears to be a civil dispute over property ownership – call came in as a keep the peace, and closed out as civil in nature,” Holland told the Daily Herald in an email.

Fresneda says the aftermath has left a stain on his business due to what he calls false theft accusations. As minority small-business owners, he said online harassment has led them to fear for their safety. “Everything that we do is with love. We’re not asking for money back. We just want to be in business and have our fears go away,” he said.

Fresneda maintains they only took what belonged to them and wants to clear their name. “We (Fresko) have been in Provo for the last almost two years, so our community is Provo. So we want people to support the truth,” he said.

While Fresneda enjoyed the time Fresko operated in Provo and building a customer base in the city, his focus now is on the restaurant’s Orem location, which he said has been harder to attract customers into due to where it is located. “We don’t have enough money to start again because we lost our deposit; we lost all the time and invested money. So we will have to stay quiet for a while,” he said.

Boyer dispels claims regarding Fresko Kitchen’s deposit money but said she stands firm on her beliefs items were wrongfully removed because she thought the intention was to operate a joint venture and split costs for essential needs. “This was a business relationship where, you know, we wanted to start two different businesses as efficiently and inexpensively as possible. And our genius plan through that was to split the cost of everything to help us get up and running quicker and at a lower cost,” she told the Daily Herald.

In regard to the crowdfunding account, her brother, Brandon Boyer, who organized it, said the intention was to provide a way for family and friends who wanted to help support the restaurant, not to mislead anyone. “If there was ever, like, stuff that wasn’t clear or honest on her side, whoa, it’d be brave to have that thing up there,” he said. “But yeah, it kind of sucks because I feel like all of the facts are on her side.”

Ultimately, the dispute may have to play out in a civil court. But Boyer is hoping the situation can be resolved amicably.

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