Swirl Bakery closes after new owner walks away

After more than two decades in business in Flower Mound, Swirl Bakery has permanently closed its doors.

Chris Norwood, who opened the cafe/bakery/catering service in 2002, said he sold the business at the end of January to a man he described as “happy-go-lucky.”

“He was full of energy and ideas, raring to go,” Norwood said of the new owner. “After operating for the first five days, he calls me and says, ‘I’m sunk, my wife filed for divorce, I have no money, I can’t run this and I can’t pay you.’ He just walked away from it.”

Norwood said the new owner, who could not be reached for comment on Thursday, had signed a promissory note to pay Norwood about $86,000 over the next three years. Norwood used his operating capital and the down payment to pay off debts. He was counting on that $86,000, but now he’s stuck, and the new owner is not answering his calls.

“I have no options,” Norwood said. “I sold the thing and ended up in debt, thinking I was going to get all this money coming in. I got the landlord calling me now, because I’m on the original lease.”

Norwood said it’s “a kick in the shins” to see his business of 21 years fall apart this way, especially since he feels he “bent over backwards to make sure he would be successful.”

“I gave him a lot of contingencies, like getting carpets cleaned and windows done, I took some money off the sale price,” Norwood said. “I had $8,000 in catering orders set up for him in February, and he just bailed.

“I did not expect this would be the way I would go out.”

Norwood said his broker told him he’d never seen anything like his in his 30-year career, and he’s working with his lawyer to try to recoup the money he is owed.

Norwood said the new owner didn’t pay the business’ employees for their five days of work. Still, Norwood said he doesn’t believe the new owner intended for this to happen.

“I think it all came crashing down on him,” Norwood said. “I don’t know why anyone would throw down $30,000 to run a restaurant for five days.”

Norwood said he wanted to sell the restaurant because the last three years had been a “whirlwind” for him, personally and professionally, and “it wasn’t fun coming into work anymore. I was not having fun being an entrepreneur anymore.” He wanted the stability of working for someone else for a while.

Now, after the sudden closure of Swirl Bakery, that’s still the plan, but he has far less financial stability to rely on.

“I need to go out and find a job,” he said. “I need some money coming in for myself.”