The managing partner of recently closed Fast Gourmet says that the people who took over the space are serving nearly the same exact menu, without rights to the recipes.

Lina Chovil, who partnered on opening Fast Gourmet at a gas station near the U Street Corridor in 2010, tells DCist that Panino Gourmet “has everything that we offered.” She says that the extensive chalkboard menu behind the shop’s counter “is basically designed the same way—they even kept our slogan which was ‘urban taste.’”

Fast Gourmet, which was known for its chivito and Cuban sandwiches, closed in March due to financial issues. Chovil says that she lost about $170,000 as the result of a 2012 dispute with her former partner Juan Olivera, who she bought out of the company (Olivera went on to open a tapas bar near Dupont Circle in 2013, which shuttered within a year.)

Chovil says the ordeal put Fast Gourmet in the red, and they’ve been trying to catch up since then, but fell behind on paying business taxes. Although she tried to work out a payment plan with the D.C. Treasurer, she said officials and police showed up to the shop on March 1 and shut down operations.

About a month ago, Chovil saw on social media that Panino Gourmet was taking over the space, with menu items that she says Olivera created and she retains the rights to. The new shop has been open for about two weeks.

Johanna Hezchias, manager and part-owner of Panino, tells DCist “I’m not sure how you can steal a recipe for a turkey sandwich.”

Hezchias hired previous kitchen staff including chef Jose Melgar, who worked at Fast Gourmet as a line cook then kitchen manager, to work at Panino.

She claims that Melgar created the menu items, not Olivera, and to her knowledge, he didn’t sign any non-disclosure agreements.

Hezchias says that her team decided to keep Fast Gourmet’s sandwich names and menu design the same “for clarity purposes to not confuse the chefs who put a lot of work into what they do everyday.” Plus, “nothing was wrong with the menu or with the food.”

“The biggest thing for us was making everybody happy as far as the chef goes and as far as the customers go,” Hezchias says. “It was unfortunate that the business was taken away from Lina and the food was taken away from customers.”

Chovil counters that Melgar did sign a contract. She is planning to sue Panino.

Chovil also says she has a plan to dig out of debt: a Fast Gourmet food truck. That’s why when people called her to purchase rights to her recipes, she said no. But now Panino is standing in the way.

“They’re taking away the possibility for us to try to make some money, pay off some debt, and get back on our feet,” Chovil says. “It’s ridiculous. We’re about to lose our property, we’re losing everything; I’m about to go live in my van because I’m getting everything garnished. And for them to steal like that, I can’t take it.”