Brisbane entrepreneur Jordan Birchall has wound up his Mexican fast food group Tuckeria

A Brisbane entrepreneur has finally tipped his fast-food company into liquidation this week after a dramatic year which included falling foul of food inspectors.

SURFING THE WAVE

He seized an opportunity to surf in on the wave of fast-food Mexican joints serving up tacos, burritos and the like across Brisbane.

But the Tuckeria group of outlets launched by entrepreneur Jordan Birchall in 2009 ceased trading in July last year as the pandemic squeeze intensified.

Just three months later both he and the company pleaded guilty to a dozen charges each related to food safety standards and were hit with $19,000 in fines after live cockroaches were found in one of the venues. (more on that below)

Jordan Birchall

Birchall, who now works as a sales director at Bevan Slattery’s IT outfit Megaport, finally pulled the pin on his solely-owned Tuckeria Pty Ltd this week, tipping it into liquidation.

He tapped bean counter Mohammed Hussain from H&H Advisory to wind up the company.

STREET BURRITO

Before it all went pear-shaped, Birchall rolled the dice in the hospitality game after snaring a business and banking/finance degree from QUT.

Trading under the banner of Tuckeria Fresh Mexican, he opened outlets in Fortitude Valley and Stones Corner.

The business expanded in early 2015, when he opened “Street Burrito’’ in a converted shipping container as part of a $4m refurbishment of the Brunswick Street Mall spearheaded by the Brisbane City Council.

“We bring it in every morning fresh,” Birchall said at the time, flagging plans for possible franchises.

“The idea was we could get into one of these and spend $30-$40,000, where a restaurant might be $150-$200,000.”

The outlook was bright, with the group achieving a five-star rating in the council’s “Eat Safe Brisbane’’ scheme that same year.

THINGS SLIP

But the franchise scheme never eventuated and things started to slip on the food safety front.

The company’s “Eat Safe’’ rating fell to three-stars in mid-2018.

Then Council food inspectors swooped on the Fortitude Valley shop early the following year.

In addition to live roaches, they discovered breaches of food storage temperatures for meat and cheese.

Despite pest controllers spraying the place, a follow up inspection in May 2019 found lingering problems with live roaches. That prompted the immediate suspension of the company’s food license.

The matter eventually found its way to Brisbane Magistrate’s Court this past October, when both Tuckeria and Birchall each pleaded guilty to a dozen counts of contravening the conditions of a food license and failing to comply with requirements imposed by food standards. No convictions were recorded.

Birchall could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

PASSENGER PLUNGE

The scale of the COVID-19 calamity for the aviation sector has come into sharp relief thanks to a few stats released by Brisbane Airport Corporation this month.

Total passenger numbers at the airport plunged to a 26-year low in 2020, with just 8.1 million rocking up. That was down 66 per cent from the previous year.

Airport boss Gert-Jan de Graaff didn’t try to sugar-coat the calamity.

“It will take many years for us to recover from the impacts of the virus, the resulting border closures and decline in consumer confidence,” he said.

“After reaching the lows of 2020, our hope is 2021 brings the stability the industry requires to boost passenger confidence.”