By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Chef Bobby Trigg reopened his Ferry House restaurant on Witherspoon Street last month after the state seized the property in October for his failure to pay more than $300,000 in taxes.
Mr. Trigg, speaking in a phone interview, expressed excitement at being back in business. The Ferry House reopened on Oct. 26, although super storm Sandy temporarily closed him again, Mr. Trigg said.
Mr. Trigg has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a move that meant the state backed off from Mr. Trigg and returned him control of the property. That will enable him to have a payment plan to pay off his debts.
Andrew Pratt, a spokesman for the state Division of Taxation, last week would not discuss whether Mr. Trigg repaid any of the more than $310,000 in legal judgments for back taxes.
”What he owes now, none of that I can go into,” Mr. Pratt said.
State tax authorities said in October that they had seized Mr. Trigg’s property for the first time in October 2011 for his failure to pay taxes. The case was held up, while Ferry House Inc. filed a petition in federal bankruptcy court.
When the first bankruptcy filing was dismissed, the state said it had resumed its collection efforts. Ultimately, authorities seized the property again last month.
Mr. Trigg said the timing of that action was bad, given it was parents weekend at Princeton University and that he had felt he was getting momentum at the restaurant. He said all his food was thrown away and his bank account seized.
”That was rough,” he said.
Mr. Trigg admitted he had “spread myself too thin” with other business ventures that included buying the Peacock Inn in 2007 with a business partner, only to later sell his shares.
He said those other ventures caused him not to pay attention to what “was happening at Ferry House,” the restaurant he had opened to rave reviews originally in Lambertville in 1992.
He also acknowledged making some poor choices about who was working for him. He said he has a new bookkeeper, accountant and managers at the restaurant. Mr. Trigg said he is cooking at the restaurant five days a week.
He said he is trying to rebuild his customer base.
”I’ve got to get the word out,” he said.
