Staff owed $100k as operator behind two Brisbane restaurants Cha Cha Char and Il Centro enters liquidation

Former employees of two well-known Brisbane restaurants have been left owed more than $100,000 in wages after the owner went into liquidation.

Cha Cha Char restaurant at Eagle Street Pier. Picture AAP/David Clark

The company that operated two iconic Brisbane restaurants has entered liquidation after a court placed an order to pay their former employees more than $100,000.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission issued a notice on Tuesday to Il Roy Pty Ltd, which previously operated restaurants Cha Cha Char and Il Centro at Eagle Street Pier, stating that it had been in liquidation and appointing corporate insolvency firm PCI Partners director Stephen Michell as the liquidator.

A Fair Work Ombudsman spokesman said they were successful in obtaining wind up orders against the company on October 18, placing it in liquidation.

“Speaking generally, wind-up proceedings provide an avenue for a liquidator to be appointed to investigate the financial transactions of a company and to distribute any money and/or assets to pay debts such as any underpayments and any penalties,” he said.

The ombudsman took the company to court last year after investigations discovered that the company had underpaid five full-time employees at the restaurants for various periods between 2015 and 2020.

Il Centro at Eagle Street Pier, Brisbane.

Their office manager, bar manager, restaurant manager and two head chefs were allegedly not paid their accrued but untaken annual leaves.

Four of them were also allegedly not paid the payment in lieu of termination notice and redundancy entitlements.

The court found Il Roy Pty Ltd had failed to comply with a previously issued compliance notice, with its sole director and shareholder Bingqi Zhao involved in the contravention.

Judge Gregory Egan ordered the company to back-pay their workers a total of $108,720.81 in Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia at Brisbane on November 2 last year.

But the matter was discontinued afterwards and both Il Roy and Mr Zhao faced no penalties.

Cha Cha Char was considered Brisbane’s original and premier steakhouse in its heyday before its sale in 2020 resulted in its closure.

The venue was then repurposed as Tassis Groups’ Fatcow, now in the James Street precinct, which saw overwhelming success until the Eagle Street Pier precinct closed for redevelopment.

Il Centro was a pinnacle of Italian dining, having opened in 1992, and was also sold in 2020, to the Happy Fat Group (Red Hook, Public) where it was transformed into the reborn Coppa Spuntino after its CBD venue cracked under the pressures of the coronavirus pandemic.

Tassis Group and Happy Fat Group are not connected to the court proceedings or liquidation.

Cha Cha Char and Il Centro’s social media accounts have not been active since 2020, while Eagle Street Pier has been closed since 2022 for a multibillion-dollar redevelopment.

PCI Partners were contacted for comment, but have not responded.