Things are going from bad to worse for Lone Spur Cafe, as the restaurant’s Durango location was seized by the Colorado Department of Revenue on Tuesday.
This comes on the heels of accusations from former employees against Lone Spur Chief Executive Officer Cory Farley for poor business practices, including attempting to pay employees when the business had insufficient funds and refusal to conduct maintenance on the restaurant.
A large sign that read “seized” was placed in the window, saying the reason was for nonpayment of taxes and that the property now belonged to the state.
According to the distraint warrant placed in the window, Farley failed to pay taxes within the required amount of time and still has refused to pay taxes.
The amount owed according to one distraint warrant totals over $160,000 in state sales taxes and fees associated from July 2020 to May 2023.
A return of tax compliance indicated that the business had been closed, and Farley was unavailable at the time the business was seized.
In addition, another distraint warrant posted on the building indicates the business owed more than $33,000 in withholding taxes from March 2020 to June 2022. The total amount owed in delinquent taxes by the business was around $196,078.
Colorado Department of Revenue spokesman Daniel Carr said he could not comment further outside of what is public knowledge, such as the seized signage and distraint warrant.
Attempts to contact Farley were unsuccessful on Wednesday morning and his voice mailbox was full.
Lone Spur Cafe opened in downtown Durango in 2016 and has recently had issues with other Southwest Colorado locations closing as well as a location in Denton, Texas.
All of the business’ personal property, fixtures, equipment and inventory will be auctioned off at a date to be decided, according to a CDOR Notice of Public Sale.
It appears Lone Spur owns the building, as county records show that building was sold to a new owner from Prescott, Arizona, in 2020, where Lone Spur is based out of.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
