‘The Inglebean Cafe fiasco.’ Coffee shop in Millheim may not reopen. Here’s why
A woman involved with The Inglebean Cafe filed an application last week seeking help from a Centre County judge to close the coffee shop, the latest legal move that keeps the business’ future unclear.
An attorney who represents Rebecca A. Larsen wrote in an eight-page application filed Nov. 3 that it is “not reasonably practical to carry on the operations of Inglebean Cafe.”
Attorney Rod Beard wrote she owns half of the Millheim business alongside Dennis A. Whittinghill, but the exact nature of the business relationship is unclear. Beard declined further comment Monday.
“There’s not too much more to say,” Beard wrote in an email.
In an email Tuesday, Whittinghill did not directly address the future of the cafe or allegations Larsen made in court documents. A protection from abuse order granted by Centre County Judge Jonathan Grine bars Whittinghill from having any contact with Larsen.
His attorney, Justin Miller, declined comment.
“I came out here to do good for the community and that’s all I’ve been doing,” Whittinghill wrote in an email Tuesday. “Someone who I trusted lied and (stole) her way into another local business and destroyed it should be the story.”
Larsen and Whittinghill were in a relationship before becoming business partners, she testified during a September hearing. Larsen became a part owner in January 2021, she testified.
The relationship, Larsen testified, included “moments that were great and there were moments that were not so great.” It began to sour after June, Beard wrote in the application, when Whittinghill “became aggressive toward Larsen.”
She testified he was verbally aggressive, telling Grine there were moments she felt her life was in danger.
“I’ve made multiple attempts over the last three to four weeks to have that coffee shop open even with temporary hours, temporary offerings. I could be in there operating it, but he’s blocked everything,” Larsen testified in September. “And I won’t be in there alone because I don’t feel safe.”
Grine granted Larsen’s protection from abuse application in September. The ruling is set to expire in September 2025. Whittinghill appealed the ruling to the state Superior Court.
Whittinghill also launched a page in August on the fundraising website GoFundMe. He raised nearly $1,500 toward his goal of $50,000.
Larsen sought cooperation in the “orderly wind down” of the business, but Whittinghill has not responded to her attorney or others involved in what Beard described as “the Inglebean Cafe fiasco.”
District Judge Gregory Koehle ordered the business earlier this month to pay nearly $1,400 to cover rent that was not paid on time.
“It is in the best interest of the members of the limited liability company and the community that the limited liability company be wound down in an orderly fashion and dissolved,” Beard wrote.
Whittinghill bought The Inglebean, 106 E. Main St., in January 2018. Sister business IngleBean Ice Cream, 108 E. Main St., opened July 2020.
No hearings have been scheduled.