The owners and managers of Tasti-D-Lite and Insomnia Cookies reached a mutual understanding Tuesday morning for the managers to resign, said Jared Barrett, co-owner of Insomnia Cookies.

The Marshall Street Tasti-D-Lite was opened Nov. 30 by Adam Green and Michael Squires, Tasti-D-Lite’s former managers who are both junior finance and entrepreneurship majors in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

Tasti-D-Lite is a small ice-cream chain with four outlets at four different universities and has a total of sixty employees.

According to Barrett, the managers could not put in the necessary time to run a business while also maintaining a full Syracuse University course load. The business’ delay in offering Insomnia Cookies might have had some relation to the managers’ requirements as students, Barrett said.

‘We just weren’t happy with the way they were managing our store,’ Barrett said. ‘They weren’t fulfilling their obligations as managers.’

The conflict between the managers and the owners of Tasti-D-Lite and Insomnia Cookies went on for weeks before the managers’ resignation, said Nathan Gagnon, the new manager of Insomnia Cookies.

‘Both sides had different sorts of visions (for the operation of the store),’ Gagnon said.

Squires, following the advice of his attorney, declined comment.

‘Litigation will handle the process, attorneys can handle the rest of the matter,’ Squires said.

Green and Squires are considering litigation against Tasti-D-Lite’s owners. However, Tasti-D-Lite has yet to be served with a lawsuit.

‘We’re at a loss for understanding what the litigation would be about,’ Barrett said.

Seth Berkowitz, co-owner of Tasti-D-Lite, is similarly perplexed about the nature of possible litigation.

‘In most situations where people quit, it’s odd when they sue someone,’ Berkowitz said.

Prior to the managers’ resignation, they shared a close relationship with the owners, Berkowitz said.

‘The one mistake Jared and I made was seeing them as protgs,’ Berkowitz said.

Barrett and Berkowitz started the first Tasti-D-Lite when they were students at the University of Pennsylvania. According to Berkowitz, the owners put in many hours starting Tasti-D-Lite in the first place. Berkowitz said Green and Squire did not put in an equivalent amount of time to get their own Tasti-D-Lite store running.

Even though Tasti-D-Lite is no longer managed by SU students, Barrett said Tasti-D-Lite will continue employing them.

‘A lot of the employees are still students because we try to stay college-oriented,’ Barrett said.

Tasti-D-Lite’s owners do not believe that the resignations of Green and Squires will have a lasting impact on the operation of Tasti-D-Lite, Berkowitz said.

‘I hope that everyone can continue enjoying our product and get past this as soon as possible,’ Berkowitz said.

Published on January 31, 2005 at 12:00 pm