To me, this sounds like a situation that could have been avoided if there was a formalized, signed, notarized business agreement in place between Harrison and Desorda. I don't know for sure, because it wasn't specifically stated in the article, but it sounds like these owners had more of a handshake contract. In fact, there was no formal lease for The Roasted Bean in the Pangaea space. Don't dick around with handshakes. Get an attorney, write up an agreement, negotiate back and forth, both parties sign. It's not rocket science, it's just business. And the owners of Pangaea decided they could do it better themselves. Nothing to stop them from doing so, given there was apparently no formal lease or contract.

I don't have any sympathy for people who feel like they got screwed, yet didn't put something like a lease agreement or a business arrangement in writing. Live and learn.

I live in North Bennington and this situation has resulted in some really ugly comments and tons of speculation being thrown around (on social media and irl). I really don't know enough to take sides per se, but I think it is telling that the Roasted Bean's former employees (not just the one quoted in the article btw) are happy to switch to working for Nick and Lani. I do think it's unfortunate for Angelica, but it seems to me like she hasn't been making good business decisions for some time. Both she and Pangaea handled the social media announcements about this horribly though. A lot of vagueness of Pangaea's part and pettiness on Angelica's. I'm just glad there will still be a coffee shop here in the winter tbh.

But also, lol at the Banner somehow managing to misspell Nick's last name throughout the entire article, but spell it right in Lani's name. Oh, Bennington Banner. 😂