Voluntary administrators appointed to Jock Zonfrillo’s restaurants say the chef has minimal assets or income
Creditors owed $1m by Masterchef judge Jock Zonfrillo need to decide whether to accept a $101,000 settlement offer from the celebrity chef and his wife.
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Creditors owed a total of $1m by MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo are unlikely to receive any money.
Voluntary administrators appointed to two restaurants operated by the celebrity chef have received a statutory declaration from him saying he has “minimal assets or income”.
In their final report, KPMG accountants David Kidman and Martin Lewis have told creditors that Zonfrillo may have operated the Restaurant Orana and Bistro Blackwood while they were insolvent but a further investigation was required to determine if any legal action could be taken.
Instead, they have recommended creditors accept a $101,000 settlement offer made by Zonfrillo and his wife, Lauren, rather than put the two parent companies, The Living Room Bar Pty Ltd and Blackwood Bistro Pty Ltd, into liquidation.
While the administrators “are of the opinion” the companies “may have become insolvent in November 2019”, a “costly” investigation would be required by a liquidator to fully determine their financial affairs.
Instead, they have recommended creditors should accept a deed of company arrangement, which would include covering the administrators’ costs of $40,000 since their appointment this month.
They estimate another $25,000 would be needed to implement the settlement.
This would leave about $35,000 to be divided among creditors ranging from the ATO and National Australia Bank to people left with a total of $88,000 of unused restaurant vouchers.
Zonfrillo closed Bistro Blackwood last December and Orana, twice named as the country’s best restaurant, in March during the pandemic. It was announced on October 5 that Orana would not reopen.
Mr Kidman and Mr Lewis said Zonfrillo was in a continuing dispute with his landlord, Maras Group, over alleged unpaid rent totalling $348,000.
Few assets had been identified that could be sold to repay creditors. Wine worth $5000 moved to a storage locker in Victoria will be sold at public auction.
Mr Kidman and Mr Lewis said it was unlikely creditors would recover any cash if they voted to put The Living Room Bar and Blackwood Bistro into liquidation. Litigation against Zonfrillo if the companies were found to have traded while insolvent was unlikely to result in a return, they found.
“We have received a statutory declaration which shows he has minimal assets or income from which to satisfy any such claims,” they said.
Their report makes no mention of his MasterChef role.
A creditors’ meeting will be held on Thursday.
Zonfrillo declined to comment.
