Award-winning pastry chef Cedric Barberet is temporarily barred from working in any Lancaster County restaurant or food industry while his former business partner’s lawsuit accusing him of misappropriating funds continues.
Lancaster County Judge Jeffrey Conrad signed the injunction order Monday, following hearings earlier this month.
The order also directs Bistro Barberet & Bakery restaurant owner Ben Frank’s Orsini Group to post a $250,000 bond with the county prothonotary’s office to pay for any damages from the injunction if it is dissolved because it was improperly granted.
The order means Barberet must close his coffee shop at Southern Market in downtown Lancaster.
The coffee shop at 100 S. Queen St. and the namesake restaurant at 26 E. King St. are located a couple blocks from one another. Barberet signed a non-compete agreement when he and Frank went into business. The restaurant opened in 2014..
Barberet was fired at the end of March and Frank sued Barberet in April, claiming he misappropriated more than $200,000 and used restaurant equipment, supplies and staff for what was initially called Barberet Coffee Shop, now The Coffee Bar.
At a hearing earlier this month, Frank said Barberet never asked him if he could open the coffee shop and only learned of it in January through a social media post.
Messages left Tuesday afternoon for attorneys for Barberet and the Orsini Group were not returned.
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