Most of the Feast! Fine Foods group placed into liquidation after only two stores were sold

The parent company of Feast! Fine Foods has been placed in liquidation, with more than $7 million still owed to unsecured creditors.

Richard Gunner at the Feast! Fine Foods Stall at the Central Market.

• Feast! calls in administrators
• Business put up for sale
• Two Feast stores sold, others under a cloud

The parent company of Feast! Fine Foods has been placed in liquidation, with more than $7 million still owed to unsecured creditors.

Two of the Feast! stores, at the Central Market and Norwood, were sold previously and will continue to trade, however the remainder of the business has been shut down.

This included Feast! at Victor Harbor and Unley, The Chop Shop at Mount Barker and Farm Direct Meats, the wholesale side of the business that included a shop front at Mount Barker.

Feast! was placed in administration on December 27 and continued to trade while a buyer for the business was sought.

Only the two outlets were sold. The remaining assets, such as plant and equipment, have been sold at auction.

Employees are owed $938,000 in superannuation and entitlements, but administrator Robert Naudi, of Rodgers Reidy, said a combination of the Federal Government’s Fair Entitlements Guarantee and the proceeds of the administration to date would more than likely cover this.

The outstanding superannuation payments are $287,000, which are likely to be made good, while other entitlements are covered by the Government.

Creditors such as meat suppliers still face an uncertain outcome, with a committee of inspection to assess where to from here.

Mr Naudi said the committee would likely meet in the next few weeks.

He said the focus now would be on issues such as potential insolvent trading and transactions that preceded the administration.

Mr Gunner founded the Feast! Fine Foods business in 2001.

Feast! Fine Foods founder Richard Gunner.. Picture Dean Martin

He said on Wednesday morning he was very surprised no one had taken on the business, but was glad employee entitlements would be covered.

“We left everything there to try and make it succeed and be sold as an ongoing business but unfortunately we were only partially able to achieve what we set out to do,” Mr Gunner said.

“(Employee entitlements) were always the most important thing.’’

Mr Gunner said he was “absolutely” confident the company did not trade insolvent.

He told The Advertiser last month that the process had been heartbreaking, particularly for staff.

He said beef prices had hurt the business, and the fire at the Thomas Foods abattoir early last year had also hit it hard.

“Then when the other challenge came from out of left-field — the Thomas Foods International Fire — we just didn’t have the buffer there, because of the challenges from the previous couple of years,’’ he said last month.

Suppliers have told The Advertiser previously that the failure of the business hurt producers at a difficult time for the sector.

Barossa Valley pig producer Shaun Blenkiron and his family supplied Feast! Fine Foods with products from their Gumshire business, located at Keyneton.

Mr Blenkiron said last month the failure of the company was another kick in the guts to pig producers who were already grappling with a profitability crisis on the back of low returns, coupled with high feed costs.

“It’s just so disappointing this has happened, especially considering what our industry has been through,” he said.

“I can’t see us getting any of the money owed.

“The timing of it was also disappointing, to see them go into administration the day after Boxing Day, after so much produce would have been sent in before Christmas. It helped them get through the busy period, but left us out of pocket.”

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