Just a month after the La Petite French Bakery’s closure in downtown Greeley, the owner has moved on. But what’s left in the wake is more than $30,000 in unpaid rent and frustrations among those who provided financial help to keep the business running.
La Petite owner Fahd Chana blamed prolonged construction on 16th Street in front of his storefront last year as the chief reason his business plummeted 70%, forcing him to close his doors permanently on Nov. 8.
But he’s left the building owner scratching his head and the Downtown Development Authority frustrated, having given or arranged for Chana to have multiple lifelines to stay afloat during construction. He closed his bakery just a couple of weeks before construction ended.
“That’s why it’s so surprising. It’s not like he quit when things were the worst,” said Raj Sharma, of Vista Lodging LLC, which has been the bakery’s landlord for 10 years. “Now the streets are open. To have this happen at the end when everything was about to be OK. I suspect because of the amount of accumulated rent, and other personal reasons, he just didn’t want to continue.”
Sharma explained that when construction on 16th Street began, he and Chana worked out a deal whereby his rent would be the same percentage of sales he had prior to construction. At minimum, he’d pay about half the rent per month than his lease required.
“Until construction is over, let’s make sure we don’t collect any more rent than he was paying pre-construction, and we deferred the other amount,” Sharma said. At the minimum, Chana was expected to pay $1,500 a month in rent, Sharma said, when it would have normally been $2,400 a month. Rent was increased to $2,800 in July, he added.
During construction, Chana also received $6,000 in construction-assistance grants from the Downtown Development Authority. He also received a $10,000 DDA grant to expand his business in the building, which he decided on prior to construction.
Bianca Fisher, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority, said she was frustrated that Chana and others blamed the downfall of the bakery on the street construction, knowing the extra financial assistance he’d been getting outside of the DDA loans. She said she would not seek recovery of any of the money the DDA sent him, but she wanted the truth to come out.
“Businesses come and go and I don’t fault people for trying their hand and maybe ultimately it doesn’t work out. That’s the nature of the business, especially small independent businesses,” Fisher said. “What was frustrating was the finger-pointing instead of acknowledging the incredible support they received, and the inability to say, ‘this model isn’t working for me, maybe I should be a pastry chef at a little B and B.’”
Chana has since moved on to contract work at The Currier Inn, 1221 Ninth Ave. in Greeley, where he has already created special dinners, holiday creations and breakfast pastries. Chana did not return calls for comment on this move. In a previous interview, he said, “I believe sometimes when there are situations like this, there’s a time of almost saying goodbye to the location, the memories. I’m planning hopefully to take this whole situation and learn from it myself.”
Both Fisher and Sharma said they are puzzled that Chana was unable to make the bakery work, especially with the assistance he took. He gave no notice to Sharma, refusing to let him in the building to clear up some water damage he claimed was problematic, Sharma said; and he shut his doors abruptly, announcing it on Facebook just weeks after planning a grand opening of his expansion.
“The manner in which (Chana left the business, blaming a construction project) … it devalues and undermines the work we do downtown, which is to support them and see them thrive,” Fisher said. “It’s not our job to save every business. There’s no sense of recourse. It’s certainly a moment for pause.”
Sharma said he also helped facilitate a private $25,000 loan to Chana, which was to help fund the expansion of the bakery into an adjoining space. For that space, Chana applied for and received a $10,000 grant from the Downtown Development Authority, which Sharma said covered the monthly rent on the expanded business (rent on that space was $2,000 a month). That grant was meted out each month, the first four months in $1,000 increments, the second in $850 increments, and the final months in $650 increments. He closed the business before receiving the entirety of the loan, which now totals $8,850.
Sharma said it wasn’t like the business plummeted overnight; it was a progression that had already started to right itself when Chana closed.
“Then fast forward to November, he was getting ready to open, his numbers were looking better … but back rent was due in the $30,000 range,” Sharma said.
Sharma said the numbers on the shop made sense. Chana was pulling in from $20,000 to $25,000 a month in sales prior to construction, and it slowly reduced to around $5,000 to $6,000, he said. He said he had no doubts the business would be back up to pre-construction levels in no time.
“Even if he paid (back rent of) $10,000 at a time, he’d be done in two to three months. It’s not like it was years and years of debt,” Sharma said. “That’s why we did this. We weren’t, like, not being financially proud, we knew the potential for this place and what he was able to do with it. From a financial standpoint it made sense, he would have been able to take care of that in months.”
During his closure, Chana created two Go-Fund-Me Campaigns, one of which sought $25,000 and has raised almost $3,900 to date. A second campaign raised $100. Both continue today.
If Chana opted to come back to the building that hosted his business for the last 10 years, Sharma said he would not be opposed to working something out.
Chana left equipment and furnishings at the bakery, and gave up possession of the place. Meanwhile, Sharma, who said Chana will not communicate with him, has opted to send the back rent to collections. Chana is still on the hook for a three-year lease on the property, but Sharma said he hopes to have a new tenant in the building soon.
This article was first published by BizWest, an independent news organization, and is published under a license agreement. © 2025 BizWest Media LLC.
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