Uforic Food Cafe owed more than $200k to creditors

Employees are still battling to regain thousands in lost superannuation and wages after a popular Mount Duneed cafe shut up shop last year.

Uforic Cafe former staff members Ruby Connell, Ace Holt and Kirra Hunnam. Picture: Alison Wynd

A popular Mount Duneed cafe plagued by financial troubles owed ex-employees more than $50,000 when it abruptly shut down last year, a report has revealed.

The liquidators report for Uforic Food Cafe alleged $52,795 was owed to 10 full-time and casual employees, and $167,424 had yet to be repaid to unsecured creditors.

Liquidator Jarvis Archer reported poor economic conditions, declining sales due to Covid-19, staff shortages and personal illness had contributed to the cafe’s closure.

Uforic Cafe former staff members Ruby Connell, Ace Holt and Kirra Hunnam. Picture: Alison Wynd

Internal accounting revealed the company had accrued trading losses of more than $15,000 before the liquidator’s appointment, but would’ve been much worse if it hadn’t been for federal government wage lifelines dolled out during the pandemic.

“The losses accrued are significantly less than they would have otherwise been due to the receipt of JobKeeper and other government stimulus payments,” he said.

“The company accrued statutory liabilities due to the ATO, the landlord, superannuation and trade creditors which were too onerous for the company to meet.”

Former front of house team-leader Ruby Connell told the Geelong Advertiser ex-employees were working through a Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) application for missed payments.

“It has a huge financial impact,” she said.

“It’s been mentally taxing, and it really hurts. I still have a long way to go, and that money might not be there when I retire.”

At the time of the closure, ex-employees alleged they hadn’t been paid superannuation since 2017.

Uforic Food Cafe owner Lisa Cummins. Picture: Peter Ristevski

The report revealed $37,649 in unpaid superannuation and $4691 in unpaid wages were owed to former staff members.

At the time of the report’s publication, Mr Archer said he planned to finalise “advances to former employees by FEG” but according to the report, those payments “do not meet outstanding superannuation obligations”.

“I have not identified any real property or material assets in the name of the Director to indicate that she has the capacity to repay the amount owing,” Mr Archer wrote.

Owner Lisa Cummins said people had struggled “tremendously” to run businesses amid the pandemic and the rising cost of living.

“I wish every day that things could have been different, but there are no winners in these circumstances,” she said.

“We did everything we could under tremendously challenging times, including my seriously ill health, for a different outcome.”

Ms Cummins said she’d been contacted by other businesses suffering similar situations, and called for the creation of more targeted support services.

“All staff will be paid their entitlements under the Federal Government’s Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG),” she said.

“The pandemic is not an excuse - it is a tremendous contributing factor and can be difficult for those without first-hand experience running a small business to comprehend what those ongoing impacts are.”

Originally published as Uforic Food Cafe owed more than $200k to creditors