‘The city has damaged our business’: Philly Vegan still affected by Richmond meals tax fiasco

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A Richmond restaurant is still struggling to stay afloat years after a meals tax mix-up left them with a bill of nearly $40,000.

As previously reported by 8News , Philly Vegan was one of dozens of restaurants incorrectly told by the city’s finance department to halt collections of meals tax money in 2021. Nine months after halting collections, the restaurant was told it was a mistake and was ordered to pay back the tax money, along with fees — the final bill was nearly $40,000.

As the fight with the city continued, Veney said lawyer fees and court costs piled on. Now, the City has owned up to the mistake and offered a resolution for the outstanding tax money, but the other fees have added up to nearly $25,000.

“The city has damaged our business and has done nothing to repair the damage they caused,” said Samuel Veney, co-owner of Philly Vegan. “We had to take all of our resources that we had to fight the city, we’re exhausted.”

Veney added that there was additional money the restaurant missed out on while working to resolve this problem.

“During that time, we had to spend all of our money, energy and effort to fight them,” Veney said. “Every grant and every single opportunity that came – we couldn’t get that because the City wouldn’t give us our business license when it was clearly their mistake.”

8News has reached out to city leadership for a response but has not yet heard back at the time of this reporting.

In the meantime, Philly Vegan is turning to the community to assist

“We’ve reached out to them multiple times, but no help, and now we’re reaching out to the community for help,” said the restaurant’s owners in a post on social media. “We want to stay open and continue to support the City.”

Calling themselves the “community’s restaurant,” Philly Vegan is aiming to get back on track with their three-year plan, which includes expanding to more locations and a food truck to feed more people. They’re also hoping to continue ‘pay-what-you-can” days.

“We could be helping way more people,” Veney said. “If we close down, who’s going to take care of our children…our families? This is about more than just money. It’s people hurting. We’re real people.”

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