MYSTIC, Conn. (AP) - A store owner who received $150,000 in state aid to open a burrito shop in Mystic and create three jobs has gone out of business.
Tyler Gilbertie, the principal of Gilbertie’s Restaurant LLC of Colchester, closed other businesses, both known as Lazy Burrito, in Colchester and Niantic, The Day of New London reported (https://bit.ly/1fbAygQ ).
Gilbertie received a $49,502 grant and a $100,398 loan under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s Small Business Express Program in 2012. The money was earmarked for improvements to the building, machinery, equipment and working capital.
A phone listing for Gilbertie could not be found.
Jim Watson, spokesman for the state Department of Economic and Community Development, said the state wants the money back. He says nine of 992 companies that received money from the business program have closed.
An audit shows all state money was spent appropriately, he said.
State Rep. Diana Urban, D-North Stonington, is skeptical about giving public money and loans to fast-food restaurants that create low-paying jobs.
“I’m a huge fan of small business and the impact they have on the economy and their communities, but money for a burrito joint?” she asked.
Urban said that she helped AB Powell Woodworks, a Pawcatuck cabinetry business, get help from the small business program last year so it could move into larger quarters. Since receiving $60,000, she said the business has hired three full-time workers who are learning cabinet-making.
Unlike the Lazy Burrito, loan money was not available for AB Powell, Urban said.
“I wish I could have gotten them burrito money,” she said.
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