Vandal Doughnuts: the shops were gone before the NOI

Vandal Doughnuts Inc. was incorporated in Nova Scotia on August 1, 2023, and by the summer of 2026 it was not selling doughnuts. The business it was named for had run two locations in the Halifax Regional Municipality, and both had closed. What the company still operated was a restaurant on the Halifax waterfront — Crème Café Halifax, at 1341 Lower Water Street, Unit 123, specializing in custom cakes and charcuterie boards and doing catering work. It had 23 employees at the date of bankruptcy, per the Preliminary Report of the Trustee, Sept. 21, 2026, paras. 12, 14.

On August 12, 2026 the company filed a notice of intention to make a proposal under s. 50.4(1) of the BIA, and Grant Thornton Limited became proposal trustee. The filing stayed proceedings against the company and its property to and including September 11, per the Certificate of Filing of a Notice of Intention to Make a Proposal, Aug. 12, 2026 and the Preliminary Report of the Trustee, Sept. 21, 2026, paras. 1–2. By September 12 there was no proposal, and the same firm was administering a bankrupt estate.

The letter of September 8

On September 8, 2026, three days before the stay expired, the proposal trustee wrote to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in Bankruptcy and Insolvency, to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, and to the company's creditors. The company's recent financial performance, set against the cash-flow forecast it had filed in the NOI proceedings, amounted to a material adverse change under s. 50.4(7)(b) of the BIA. As a result the company "ceased being able to pay post filing expenses as they became due and has been unable to source a lender to provide debtor-in-possession financing to support its operations and the NOI proceedings," per the Preliminary Report of the Trustee, Sept. 21, 2026, para. 3.

The stay expired on September 11 without a proposal, and on September 12 the company was deemed to have made an assignment in bankruptcy under s. 50.4(8), with Grant Thornton appointed licensed insolvency trustee of the estate until the first meeting of creditors, per the Preliminary Report of the Trustee, Sept. 21, 2026, para. 4. The report the trustee filed with the official receiver two days later records which of the two statutory failures had occurred: the box for a projected cash-flow statement not filed within ten days of the notice of intention is left blank, and the box for a proposal not filed within thirty days, or within any extension granted by the court under s. 50.4(9), is marked, per the Form 34, Report of Trustee on Non-Filing of Cash-Flow Statement or Proposal, Sept. 14, 2026. The official receiver issued the certificate of assignment on September 17, with the trustee's security set at $0.00, per the Certificate of Assignment, Sept. 17, 2026.

What management told the trustee

The trustee's account of the causes comes from discussions with management and the company's financial advisors, and it has four parts. Winding down Vandal Doughnuts drained resources from the company, and the renovation and opening of Crème on the Halifax waterfront ran over budget and drained more. The shareholders and directors "experienced, and continue to experience, numerous disagreements related to the expansion of the Beyond Hospitality Group (a group of related restaurants owned by the directors of Vandal), its operation, and how it is funded." And significant outstanding balances owing to the Canada Revenue Agency led to collection actions, including garnishment of the company's bank accounts. All of it, the trustee writes, "contributed to a serious cash flow drain on the Company and a liquidity crisis," per the Preliminary Report of the Trustee, Sept. 21, 2026, paras. 15–16. The directors and officers are Kent Scales, president, and Zoey Boosey, secretary.

What the landlords took, and what is left

The asset summary in the trustee's report is drawn from the company's internal books and records as at December 31, 2025, and puts total assets at $2,038,295.08. Current assets are $563,385.29 of it: $20,353.08 in cash, $6,148.42 in prepaid expenses, and $536,883.79 in related party receivables. Fixed assets are the remaining $1,474,909.79 — $575,605.04 of vehicle and equipment, primarily a delivery van and kitchen equipment; $425,269.32 of leasehold improvements, being electrical, plumbing and ventilation upgrades to the leased premises; $251,425.04 of furniture and fixtures, being cabinetry, signage and decor; $204,534.83 of goodwill, related to the acquisitions of Fortune Doughnuts Inc. and Vandal Doughnuts Inc.; and $18,075.56 of software, per the Preliminary Report of the Trustee, Sept. 21, 2026, paras. 18, 21.

The receivables are owed by two companies that no longer trade. Asia Halifax Restaurant + Bar, incorporated in Nova Scotia on August 16, 2024, owes $341,979.90; Beyond Boxes Luxury Gifting Limited, incorporated on October 10, 2025, owes $194,006.52. Mr. Scales and Ms. Boosey are the directors and officers of both, and the trustee understands each has ceased operations, per the Preliminary Report of the Trustee, Sept. 21, 2026, para. 20.

The fixed assets that belonged to the doughnut operations were seized by their respective landlords before the NOI was filed, and "[t]he only assets of the Company that remain are those contained within the operations of Crème," per the Preliminary Report of the Trustee, Sept. 21, 2026, para. 22. A search of the Personal Property Registry System shows the Bank of Montreal holding a general security agreement over all of the company's present and after-acquired personal property; the trustee has not reviewed that security as registered, per the Preliminary Report of the Trustee, Sept. 21, 2026, para. 19.