Stand With Sweet Release

By Kristine Bartley

video

PledgeMe.Project

Food,



NZ $6,075 pledged


122 people pledged


Closed


NZ $42,000 minimum target


14 14% Complete

This campaign failed to reach its target by 31/10/2015 at 7:00 PM (NZDT) and is now closed.

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About

Stand With Sweet Release

Project 2015-09-27 18:10:14 +1300

The details

Hi I'm Kris, and I'm the owner of Sweet Release Cakes and Treats. We’ve been been operating in the Capital Markets since August 2014. Our landlord is “Willis Street Parking Limited” whose Directors are Michael Chow and John Chow.

 

Store photo.jpg

Pretty much since day one we’ve had a dispute with said landlords. It’s still ongoing. It’s getting a bit silly.

 

We have sought legal advice. Unfortunately there are so many  points of disagreements that we can’t just go to the Disputes Tribunal.

 

Sadly, this means we need to escalate the case to the District Court. This is going to cost an estimated $42,000 based on the District Court Scale Costs. This will hopefully mean we can settle our issues. We will either stay in the premise with the conditions we were promised, or break our lease and move (with the acknowledgement that we’ve lost money installing a commercial kitchen in a premise we no longer use).  

 

We need your help.

 

We need to raise $42,000 to stand up for ourselves.

 

So why should you help us? Sweet Release started as baking therapy during my treatment for Graves Disease. It was a big help with dealing with this lifetime illness. It helped me get my life back to “normal” and following radiation treatment, I decided to pursue baking as a career. It was one of the best things to come out of my illness. I love being able to experiment with treats and helping the community through the shop. That was a big scary leap from IT where I was working for 10 years.

 

Journey of Hope baking classes.jpg

 

As well as baking yummy cakes and treats Sweet Release gives back to our community

  • We offer free baking classes to people with an illness thanks to the help from Journey of Hope.

  • We have a work experience program with Active to help intellectually disabled youth transition into workplaces.

  • We are a part of a network of bakers delivering free baked goods to charities around Wellington.
     

Brownie pics.jpg

 

Sweet release is a small local business. I started it to follow my dreams and I now employ one full time and two part time staff. Small businesses are often run by passionate business owners who wants to share their creations with you. When you buy from a small business, you are helping someone pay their bills, you are creating jobs for people in your community and encouraging them to continue doing what they love.

 

Making a stand

We believe that we are being taken advantage of so we’re making a stand.  Some small business owners have been through similar situations but the cost of legal fees has kept them quiet.

 

We cannot do this without your help.

 

We are going to work our asses off to make this stand against the Chow Brothers. This issue has been going on so long, we just want sweet release for Sweet Release!

 

Making our goal means we can make this stand. It means other stallholders in the city market might be inspired to make a stand too (unsurprisingly we’re not the only ones having problems with the landlords). Most of all it means we can keep on baking you delicious cakes and bringing treats to Wellingtonians.

 

The great thing about having a cake store is that the rewards are always sweet. So check them out over there →

 

We want you to be rewarded for pledging so raise your middle finger with us and hit the reward you want with it.

 

Many, many thanks

 

Kris and the team

 


Team Photo.jpg

 

PS: Please spread the word! Get tweeting with the hashtag #SWSR and use the short url for this campaign pldg.me/swsr. Follow us on Twitter at @SweetReleaseWLG and @ us when you're spreading the word!

 

Comments

Updates 4

You need to pledge to see this update.

You need to pledge to see this update.

Third day of campaign update

30/09/2015 at 5:44 PM

Hi everyone

We're now on the third day of our campaign with nearly $3k pledged.

Thank you to everyone that continues to show their support via visits to the shop, messages, sharing our campaign and pledging.

We believe and have been advised by our lawyer that we have a strong case...we just need the funds to take action! So many big corporate companies think it's ok to treat small businesses like this knowing they won't have funds to take action against them but platforms like Pledgeme is changing that scene with your help!

Two weeks ago, our landlords notified us that our rent has now more than doubled due to a "market evaluation" and after speaking to a few other stallholders, we found out that we are the only ones that has received this rent increase, as far as we know. This is effective as of tomorrow. Two weeks notice doesn't seem fair does it? It is in dispute. If you believe that this particular dispute is not fair, please continue to share and pledge towards our campaign so we don't have to deal with this sort of behavior from them anymore.

Thanks again everyone.

 

xx

Sweet Release Team

 

 

 

 

 

The beginning...hot water

28/09/2015 at 3:22 PM

With the project now live for a couple hours, let me take you through the beginning...

Note that this is only one out of the many issues we are in dispute over.

Before we signed the lease, we were told many times by the two Property Managers, Steven Zhu and Justin Chang (now ex property manager and owns Where's Charlie and Fish n Chips shop in Capital Market) that hot water was ready to go and all we needed to do was install sinks.

Literally on my first day of the lease, we encountered an issue. There was no hot water or plumbing in the shops I was allocated. My plumber called the architect and after some investigation, it was confirmed that there were no pipes or hot water. Steven continued to say that hot water was there and even came on site to show me pipes. In order to get opened on time, I gave the plumbers to go ahead with what needed to happen to get us open and sort out those issues out later.

We have been disputing this case for awhile now as they have since denied promising the hot water being available at all. Justin even went as far as writing a legal letter advising that he never made those promises and that he was onsite when I signed my lease to confirm the other property manager Steven never made other promises now also in dispute...he wasn't on site when I signed my lease. I asked him why he wrote that letter fully knowing he wasn't there and his reply was "just looking out for himself to stay on the good side of the Chow Brothers". Poor Justin must have forgotten that a friend of mine came on site that day and while she was waiting for me, he also told her that all we had to do was put sinks in. He left to go to an outside appointment when I arrived to sign my lease. That friend has written a letter confirming of her conversation with him and that he left before I signed my lease to back us up in court.

 

 

    Pledgers 122

    Kim Te Whaiti
    28/09/2015 at 12:15pm

    "All the best for this!!"

    Benjamin Fox
    28/09/2015 at 12:14pm

    "Back Sweet Release? Like seriously, why would you even pause before clicking to back this."

    Stand With Sweet Release

    Project 2015-09-27 18:10:14 +1300

    The details

    Hi I'm Kris, and I'm the owner of Sweet Release Cakes and Treats. We’ve been been operating in the Capital Markets since August 2014. Our landlord is “Willis Street Parking Limited” whose Directors are Michael Chow and John Chow.

     

    Store photo.jpg

    Pretty much since day one we’ve had a dispute with said landlords. It’s still ongoing. It’s getting a bit silly.

     

    We have sought legal advice. Unfortunately there are so many  points of disagreements that we can’t just go to the Disputes Tribunal.

     

    Sadly, this means we need to escalate the case to the District Court. This is going to cost an estimated $42,000 based on the District Court Scale Costs. This will hopefully mean we can settle our issues. We will either stay in the premise with the conditions we were promised, or break our lease and move (with the acknowledgement that we’ve lost money installing a commercial kitchen in a premise we no longer use).  

     

    We need your help.

     

    We need to raise $42,000 to stand up for ourselves.

     

    So why should you help us? Sweet Release started as baking therapy during my treatment for Graves Disease. It was a big help with dealing with this lifetime illness. It helped me get my life back to “normal” and following radiation treatment, I decided to pursue baking as a career. It was one of the best things to come out of my illness. I love being able to experiment with treats and helping the community through the shop. That was a big scary leap from IT where I was working for 10 years.

     

    Journey of Hope baking classes.jpg

     

    As well as baking yummy cakes and treats Sweet Release gives back to our community

    • We offer free baking classes to people with an illness thanks to the help from Journey of Hope.

    • We have a work experience program with Active to help intellectually disabled youth transition into workplaces.

    • We are a part of a network of bakers delivering free baked goods to charities around Wellington.
       

    Brownie pics.jpg

     

    Sweet release is a small local business. I started it to follow my dreams and I now employ one full time and two part time staff. Small businesses are often run by passionate business owners who wants to share their creations with you. When you buy from a small business, you are helping someone pay their bills, you are creating jobs for people in your community and encouraging them to continue doing what they love.

     

    Making a stand

    We believe that we are being taken advantage of so we’re making a stand.  Some small business owners have been through similar situations but the cost of legal fees has kept them quiet.

     

    We cannot do this without your help.

     

    We are going to work our asses off to make this stand against the Chow Brothers. This issue has been going on so long, we just want sweet release for Sweet Release!

     

    Making our goal means we can make this stand. It means other stallholders in the city market might be inspired to make a stand too (unsurprisingly we’re not the only ones having problems with the landlords). Most of all it means we can keep on baking you delicious cakes and bringing treats to Wellingtonians.

     

    The great thing about having a cake store is that the rewards are always sweet. So check them out over there →

     

    We want you to be rewarded for pledging so raise your middle finger with us and hit the reward you want with it.

     

    Many, many thanks

     

    Kris and the team

     


    Team Photo.jpg

     

    PS: Please spread the word! Get tweeting with the hashtag #SWSR and use the short url for this campaign pldg.me/swsr. Follow us on Twitter at @SweetReleaseWLG and @ us when you're spreading the word!

     

    Comments

    You need to pledge to see this update.

    You need to pledge to see this update.

    Third day of campaign update

    30/09/2015 at 5:44 PM

    Hi everyone

    We're now on the third day of our campaign with nearly $3k pledged.

    Thank you to everyone that continues to show their support via visits to the shop, messages, sharing our campaign and pledging.

    We believe and have been advised by our lawyer that we have a strong case...we just need the funds to take action! So many big corporate companies think it's ok to treat small businesses like this knowing they won't have funds to take action against them but platforms like Pledgeme is changing that scene with your help!

    Two weeks ago, our landlords notified us that our rent has now more than doubled due to a "market evaluation" and after speaking to a few other stallholders, we found out that we are the only ones that has received this rent increase, as far as we know. This is effective as of tomorrow. Two weeks notice doesn't seem fair does it? It is in dispute. If you believe that this particular dispute is not fair, please continue to share and pledge towards our campaign so we don't have to deal with this sort of behavior from them anymore.

    Thanks again everyone.

     

    xx

    Sweet Release Team

     

     

     

     

     

    The beginning...hot water

    28/09/2015 at 3:22 PM

    With the project now live for a couple hours, let me take you through the beginning...

    Note that this is only one out of the many issues we are in dispute over.

    Before we signed the lease, we were told many times by the two Property Managers, Steven Zhu and Justin Chang (now ex property manager and owns Where's Charlie and Fish n Chips shop in Capital Market) that hot water was ready to go and all we needed to do was install sinks.

    Literally on my first day of the lease, we encountered an issue. There was no hot water or plumbing in the shops I was allocated. My plumber called the architect and after some investigation, it was confirmed that there were no pipes or hot water. Steven continued to say that hot water was there and even came on site to show me pipes. In order to get opened on time, I gave the plumbers to go ahead with what needed to happen to get us open and sort out those issues out later.

    We have been disputing this case for awhile now as they have since denied promising the hot water being available at all. Justin even went as far as writing a legal letter advising that he never made those promises and that he was onsite when I signed my lease to confirm the other property manager Steven never made other promises now also in dispute...he wasn't on site when I signed my lease. I asked him why he wrote that letter fully knowing he wasn't there and his reply was "just looking out for himself to stay on the good side of the Chow Brothers". Poor Justin must have forgotten that a friend of mine came on site that day and while she was waiting for me, he also told her that all we had to do was put sinks in. He left to go to an outside appointment when I arrived to sign my lease. That friend has written a letter confirming of her conversation with him and that he left before I signed my lease to back us up in court.

     

     

      Kim Te Whaiti
      28/09/2015 at 12:15pm

      "All the best for this!!"

      Benjamin Fox
      28/09/2015 at 12:14pm

      "Back Sweet Release? Like seriously, why would you even pause before clicking to back this."

      This campaign was unsuccessful and finished on 31/10/2015 at 7:00 PM.