(rdnewsNOW/ Ian Gustafson)

By Ian Gustafson

Gift Cards

Sweet Home on the Lake hopes to earn back customer trust after controversy

Mar 27, 2025 | 10:09 AM

Just over a week since Sweet Home on the Lake officially reopened, owners Cody and Eva Borek hope they can earn the trust back of their customers.

This comes after the local boutique and cafe business based out of Sylvan Lake, opened their doors on March 18, seven weeks after announcing their permanent closure.

They were ultimately able to reopen through the backing of a new partner.

“I think we’re doing everything we can to make it right,” Cody told rdnewsNOW. “We never stopped working to try to find a solution. So, everybody that had bought gift cards, they’re still able to use them at their full value, which a lot of those people got for half price when we were going through another difficult situation. We hope we can keep earning their trust back and look forward to visiting them again and continuing to learn and improve.”

The RCMP launched an investigation at the beginning of February into Sweet Home on the Lake after receiving a report of alleged fraudulent business practices on Feb. 4. No charges were laid at the time of the report and the RCMP said the investigation is still ongoing.

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Borek said they haven’t heard from the police and added he doesn’t think there’s much to investigate.

The local business launched a gift card campaign on Sept. 11, 2024; because they needed to raise $400,000 after they had been without a parking lot for six months at their Sylvan Lake location.

The promotion, explained in a Facebook post, was to buy $200 gift cards for $100 apiece and they’d be usable at all of their locations including Sylvan Lake, Stettler, Canmore, Drumheller, and Red Deer.

They surpassed their goal in less than 24 hours and in October announced they were able to buy their building in Sylvan Lake after previously renting it.

They explained, owning the building would better position them to reopen the parking lot, which is between Sweet Home on the Lake and Chateau Suites along Lakeshore Drive.

The parking lot is owned by the Chateau Suites condominium corporation and they lease it. Currently, they’re in a legal battle over the parking lot and Borek said they purchased a 99-year lease on the lot.

However, customer outrage came on Feb. 3 when Sweet Home on the Lake announced in a Facebook post they’d be closing all locations except for Sylvan Lake, leaving those who bought gift cards with just one outlet to use them.

A day later they announced that the Sylvan Lake location would also be closed. In addition, they’d also be going into receivership.

The sudden closure left many customers with hundreds of dollars of gift cards they couldn’t use.

“It was an interesting time, obviously challenging because of social media. What was really neat is the people who were reaching out to us, some of them we didn’t really know, but just reaching out to us to uplift us and pray for us and share their trust in us even though there are so many kinds of misleading stories out,” he said.

“They still trusted us, so it’s just really interesting the volume of people that took time of their days to just encourage us through the thick of it.”

Some of the misleading rumours Borek said that were getting spread around were that they’ve done the same thing before. There were also rumours they don’t have a food permit and never purchased the building, which he said aren’t true.

Those who purchased gift cards can find comfort in that they don’t plan to close the location anytime soon with the backing of a new investor, who helped them reopen. In fact, Borek said they’re more financially stable than they’ve been in years.

“The investors have helped. They bring a lot of knowledge to the table of maybe where our weaknesses are, but along with their expertise, we’ve had some overwhelming support,” he said.

“And also learned a lot through the last year. We were in a tough spot. So, we learned how to become more efficient and try to just better our business. Now with this fresh restart, we just have so much new knowledge and help.”

He admitted there hasn’t been the rush he expected for people to use up their gift cards. He said that means there’s more people out there who trust them and know they’ll be sticking around.

Currently, their plan is to only open the Sylvan Lake and Stettler locations. The Canmore and Drumheller locations have been taken over by new businesses. As for their Red Deer store, they don’t plan to open it any time soon.

“Since we’ve reopened in Sylvan it’s been overwhelmingly positive,” Borek said. “We were a little bit nervous. There was obviously a lot of upset people on social media, but what we’re finding is in store we haven’t had any uncomfortable experiences. Everybody’s been so kind.”

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