LEGUMINATI WILL NO LONGER BE OPENING AT SANDWICH BAR, AND HERE’S WHAT I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT IT..

BY BEX LARSEN

Due to a series of unfortunate events, and a chain of texts and emails that have since been sent to our lawyers for further review, we have been informed that Sandwich Bar has decided to cancel our contract, just one week prior to our soft-opening, due to personal influences from select business owners in the neighborhood, who are also members of the Milk District Main Street Board. While this is all incredibly hard to swallow, being that we’ve lost hours upon hours in labor, spent thousands of dollars on renovations and equipment, paid rent for the space, placed orders with food distributors, and hired a staff, many of whom left jobs to come work for us.. we’ve decided that this was, perhaps, just one big blessing in disguise. We were meant for something bigger. While we were excited to collaborate with the other businesses in the Milk District, we have been bullied out of our shared space by someone whose role as a member of the board is to help grow the very community we were actively trying to grow and so excited to be a part of. We have decided to remain calm, stick together, and get back to business.. because we’re the Bean Team Dream Team, and that’s what we do. We are going to overcome every seemingly insurmountable obstacle with our chins up, heads held high, and hands grasped in unity. While we lost a lot of time and money on this project, what we gained was far more valuable. We came together as a team - a family. I found a friend, ally, and sense of fearlessness in the person I hired as my general manager, Bailee Polk. I found a brother, confidant, and adviser in my Leguminati co-owner Jeremy Joseph. I found a ray of sunshine, willingness to learn, and eagerness to overcome in my partner Nikki Namdar. But, most importantly, I found myself. I was able to take the nearly defeated, close to broken person that I was and build her back up in the way she was always meant to be built. I reminded myself of who I was, what I wanted, and what parts of me still needed some work. I took ownership of not only my business, but my life. And this obstacle isn’t for one second going to change that. I refuse to let it. If anything, this was the test I had been studying for all along.. I just wasn’t expecting a pop quiz! Before we were offered the opportunity to step in to share the space at Sandwich Bar, we had an entirely different plan. We were going to leave town. We were going to travel. We were going to explore. And we were going to do it while sharing our food and our message with folks all over the world. Much like a band goes on tour, I wanted to do that with my company.. with my team. I still do. We have decided to move forward by booking pop-up events in town, and will begin planning our Leguminati Cross Country Road Trip, tentatively scheduled for early next year. Our plan is to keep our mobile business growing here in Orlando while we do this. We love our followers and the community so much and refuse to let this setback slow us down. The comeback is ALWAYS greater than the setback, and we’ve prepared ourselves for greatness. We invite you to join us on this journey by following our blog as we continue to provide news and updates, and by offering aid in whatever way you can. Please let us know of any pop ups, catering events, festivals, or the like that we might be able to support, both in town and out of town, as we attempt to make back our investment in the Sandwich Bar. We will be selling food behind Etoile Boutique as a pop-up vendor this Saturday, November 25th 12-6pm for Small Business Saturday in the Milk District. We encourage you to come out, grab something to eat, and support your local small businesses. I appreciate your patience both personally and professionally as we begin to rebuild. Thank you for your continued love and support.

-Bex Larsen

Follow Bex on Instagram: @BexLarsen