Friday, 29 January 2010

Where'd the love go at the Peace Café?


via CAAI News Media

Friday, 29 January 2010 15:01 Post Staff

Siem Reap’s small but vibrant alternative scene, normally a haven of love, peace and mediation, has been ripped apart with fightin’, fussin’ and feudin’. The angst is mainly over an unseemly business name dispute revolving around the iconic Singing Tree Café, that long-time haven of local hippiness.

The short version of the saga is that last November, the founders of the Singing Tree Café, Michael Batura and his wife Fin Sovvany, sold the business to Raja Yoga owner Maureen Chen and husband Tom.

The café was to be run by Maureen and Tom and a new business – a vegetarian sandwich and juice bar in the Alley West called Singing Tree Corner – was to be a partnership between the Chens and Batura and his wife.

But the partnership has now been dissolved due to a bitter dispute over the ownership of the Singing Tree name.

Now, and try to keep up, the original Singing Tree Café has re-emerged from the ashes of the mini-war as the Peace Café, under the ownership of the Chens.

Meanwhile, with the Chens no longer partners in the juice bar, this business has been renamed the Singing Tree Café.

Last year on November 27, Michael Batura told 7Days that the business partnership with the Chens was a good deal. He said, “That we found like-minded people to keep it going and take it further is actually really exciting.”

But last week, Batura posted a note at the Singing Tree about the disintegration of the relationship with the Chens. The notice said, in part, “Singing Tree Café owners and staff would like you to know that we are not connected to them in any way, and take no responsibility for their claims, their actions, or their food.

“We regret if you have been confused…”

2 comments:

Michael and Vanny said...

For the record:

The dispute was never in essence about the name but about failing to deliver on agreement which cost us lots of money and resulted in much heartache (Tom and Maureen were our friends once).

It is extremely regretful that the Phnom Penh Post has decided to drag what is a private business dispute into the public eye, and even more dubious they have done that without checking out the facts properly. The underlying glee conveyed through the style at this unfortunate development of events is shameful, and served nothing but to damage further the “small but vibrant alternative scene” which the Post on previous occasions seemed eager to promote.

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