Nobunga Yakitori owner locked out amid rent battle
A Japanese restaurant owner who added flame-grilled bat to his ‘virus-free menu’ at the height of COVID-19 has started a GoFundMe page in a bid to stave off financial ruin.
QLD Business
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A Japanese restaurant owner who controversially added a ‘Wuhan burger and bat wings’ to his ‘virus-free menu’ at the height of COVID-19 now faces financial ruin with the business on the brink of collapse.
Charles Rich, the founder of Morningside’s Nobunga Yakitori, started an “urgent” GoFundMe page earlier this year to avoid closing the restaurant after COVID-19 restrictions forced it to provide takeaway only.
The business owner said a drop in customers slashed cashflow and left him unable to pay rent.
He said a rent extension was denied and after three months of difficulty Mr Rich arrived on Thursday to find the locks changed.
“Everything of mine is locked inside there now,” he said.
“I just want to negotiate (with the landlord).”
However, it is understood Mr Rich’s rental agreement expired the day the locks were changed and no extension offered.
Landlord Rob Gilmore declined to comment when contacted by The Courier Mail, citing legal reasons.
Mr Rich said he spent $750,000 over the past three-and-a-half years building the “authentic” restaurant – which attracted controversy this year when he added a Wuhan bat burger and bat wings to the menu.
Google reviews criticising the restaurant’s “ignorant behaviours” were rebuffed online by Mr Rich, who suggested the reviewer was not authentic and “had links to (the) Chinese Communist Party”.
He launched a Go Fund Me page in May after a drop in customers – reaching $2360 of its $28,000 target.
“Don’t lose this unique Japanese restaurant experience,” he pleaded.
“Any size donation will assist – many small drops of water fill a bucket.”
The business owner insists he had been “building up” the restaurant and getting good reviews from the community.
“It was a very different restaurant, there was a unique atmosphere,” he said.
“It wasn’t just somewhere to go and eat, it was an experience.
“When you stepped inside you’d step out of Australia and you’d feel like you were in a Japanese restaurant in Japan.”
Mr Rich employed three staff, down from 10 prior to COVID-19.
