FLORISSANT, Mo. — Too sweet to be true?
That's what one Florissant business owner recently found out about CARES Act funding.
Michael Temm has owned Wedding Wonderland Cake Shop in Florissant for 35 years. He's created beautiful multi-tiered confectionary wonders. But since the coronavirus pandemic hit, the orders haven't been coming in like previous years.
5 On Your Side's Sara Machi spoke to Temm about what happened.
"Sales are down a quarter of $1 million, and the cupcakes are barely keeping the doors open," Temm said.
Temm began looking for funding as sales dropped, specifically CARES Act funding from the state.
He applied and got the acceptance letter in September, but then he got a second letter, which rescinded his funding. It turned out - he's not alone.
The initial letter said he'd be reimbursed up to $50,000, so he paid the rent, utilities and made changes to keep his business going. Such as changing us the display cases with cupcakes and cake pops instead of the usual wedding cakes.
"When I got this letter, holy cow, it changed my whole view. I was able to sleep at night again," Temm said.
Forty-one days and $42,000 after the first letter, Temm got another letter.
"We apologize for making a very difficult situation even more challenging," the letter from the state said.
The state rescinded the grant and said his business didn't fit into the right categories, even though one of the categories is food service.
"I honestly was just thinking how could somebody do this? To promise somebody so much money that would be a game changer for wedding Wonderland, and then just take it all back," Temm said.
5 On Your Side reached out to the state and a spokesperson said in a review of 3,000 CARES Act applications, the Department of Economic Development found 98 applicants were sent approval letters despite not being eligible for the first round of the small business grant.
"We recognize that this error worsened an already difficult situation," spokesperson Maggie Kost added.
Temm said now he's even more in debt and back to restless nights.
"The last line of the letter said I hope we can serve you better in the future, well because of what you did there might not be a future," Temm said.
The letter doesn't give Temm a way to contest the rejection, but he said he's going to reach out.