Cafe supplier Real Friends and juice brand HRVST ST owes $1.63m to more than 100 creditors

A Queensland juice distributor that went bust several weeks ago owes $1.634m to more than 100 unsecured suppliers and staff.

Juice distributor Hrvst St, Real Friends collapsed into receivership last month owing $1.6 million.

A Queensland juice distributor that went bust several weeks ago owes $1.634 million to more than 100 unsecured suppliers and staff.

Brisbane-based HRVST ST Pty Ltd trading as Hrvst St cold pressed juices, and Real Friends Food and Drink Supply, ceased trading at the end of last month, shocking its owners at the time.

The business, which supplied its product to more than 50 major retailers and hotels including The Calile, W hotels and the IGA, had been placed into administration.

A concerned creditor also put the business in control of receivers and managers who decided to shut down HRVST ST just a few days later, on October 31.

“This is not something we ever wanted to happen but it is with tears in our eyes and lumps in our throats, time to say goodbye,” Hrvst St cold pressed juices wrote on Instagram.

“Unfortunately the Administrator pulled the pin this afternoon. It all happened extremely fast. If there are any distributor orders in the system that have not been released, the administrator will refund you.”

The appointed administrator, Andrew Weatherley of WCT Advisory, released an initial report on the company’s activities and properties and filed it with the corporate regulator last week.

The report revealed that the juice brand has 109 unsecured suppliers owed a total of $1.634 million, although a handful of the suppliers listed actually owe the business money.

Of that, the Australian Tax Office is owed $255,000 while a further $53,000 has been racked up in payroll tax due to the Office of State Revenue.

Staff are also owed $178,000 from unpaid wages, annual service leave payments and superannuation, rendering them priority creditors.

HRVST ST owes 11 staff members $51,000 in unpaid long service leave and annual leave, as well as $127,000 from superannuation.

Their wages will be recoverable through a government rescue scheme called the Fair Entitlements Guarantee, however, this doesn’t include superannuation so some are likely to miss out.

A further $124,000 is owed to the company’s directors and other related party employees, from leave and long service leave.

The administrator, Mr Weatherley, previously said that shortly after his appointment, Domenic Calabretta and Andrew Quinn of insolvency firm Mackay Goodwin, were appointed receivers and managers of the company.

They are now in control of the company’s assets.

There was $26,000 left in the company’s bank account at the time it ceased trading.

HRVST St estimated assets worth $746,000, but these assets are only expected to fetch around $41000 once sold.

Alison Harris and Alyse Filipuzzi founded the business in Brisbane in 2015.