Mount Coolum’s Bao Down, Coolum Beach’s Mr Mancino restaurants shut

A Sunshine Coast chef and restaurant owner has revealed what sparked his shock closure as other empty spaces appear in a beachside shopping strip.

A Sunshine Coast restaurant owner has walked away from his business of seven years after rising costs and staff shortages became too much to overcome.

Mount Coolum Bao Down owner Joshua Gordon said it was a difficult decision that surprised even him.

The restaurant is in a complex on the David Low Way.

“We got through Covid really well, the support from the locals was incredible,” he said.

The chef said, ultimately, it was “the cost of everything going up”, a lack of staff and a demand for chefs was “so high” he had to pay more in their wages that factored into the closure.

Chef and Bao Down owner Joshua Gordon made the difficult decision to close his business after seven years at Mount Coolum. Picture: Letea Cavander

He said some of the staff he was able to find had full-time jobs and were working at his business as a second job to ensure they could remain living in the area because of rising costs of living.

“The staff I did have were wonderful and very loyal and really tried but everyone was pushed to the point of exhaustion,” Mr Gordon said.

Bao Down closed on May 20, 2023, after seven years.

The chef said it took a personal toll and cooking “wasn’t really fun” anymore.

He said he had paid his suppliers or had worked out payment plans with them for what he owed.

“I was scared if I kept going and tried to put it up for sale, if I didn’t manage it right, then I might leave suppliers too far in the hole,” Mr Gordon said.

“It is probably a bit unfortunate for the landlord but I’ve just pulled the pin on the lease.”

Bao Down owner Joshua Gordon says rising costs, staff shortages and “exhaustion” all contributed to his surprise decision to close the business.

The 39-year-old dad-of-two, who has been a chef for more than 20 years, said customers had also cut spending and “were looking for value” in their restaurant experiences.

“If people were fatigued in the restaurant and something was not quite up to par, if it was cheaper a lot of people would let it go but where we had to make our prices, they were less forgiving of a mistake,” Mr Gordon said.

The owner said his home’s rent also went up as business costs like food, electricity and gas increased.

A “pretty dismal” Christmas and Easter period had only compounded the pain, as Mr Gordon said he had been relying on that trade to inject money into the restaurant.

The business closed on May 20 and Mr Gordon has started working as a chef at a Nambour venue, Small Change Espresso, and said he hoped to do pop-ups in the future.

Coolum Beach closures

Other empty spaces have also appeared over the past six months further along the David Low Way, in the heart of Coolum Beach.

Restaurant Mr Mancino, in the space where popular restaurant Harvest once was, permanently closed in May.

Coolum Beach restaurant Mr Mancino closed in May 2023.

The owners announced the closure via social media and acknowledged the “wonderful customers” who had supported them.

Next door, a shop formerly leased by a bank has been empty for about six months.

Colliers senior sales and leasing executive Daniel Vella said interest in the space vacated by Mr Mancino had been from “existing successful operators” across the Sunshine Coast that were of “an Italian orientation” and past and present Coolum Beach traders.

A Coolum Beach and Mount Coolum business closed in May.

“The restaurant closure was probably more on personal grounds rather than the local economy,” Mr Vella said.

He said it was not true that businesses “had to be a really good trader” to survive at the northern end of the Coolum Beach shopping strip.

Brendan Robins, of CBRE, is managing the tenancy of the former bank next door.

The director said approval had been granted to split the space into two tenancies and building would start in a couple of weeks.

He said a retail fashion tenant, “something that’s not already on the esplanade” was eyeing off one tenancy.

Other closures

In other suburbs, Gopal’s Pure Vegetarian in Maroochydore is in liquidation following the business’s shock closure, as the directors lament inflationary and economic pressure since the pandemic.

Gopals Pure Vegetarian is in liquidation. Picture: Lou O'Brien

Liquidator at Revive Financial Jarvis Archer said the restaurant owes about $163,000 to lenders and the Australian Taxation Office.

In March, popular Buderim restaurant and bar Argo, formally known as Hungry Feel cafe, announced it was closing down, as did cafe Press At Noosa, in Noosa Junction.

Argo reopened on June 2, under the same name, but with a new feel and owner with Grounded at Woombye and Mooloolaba’s Paul Dolan at the helm.

Other notable closures this year include the Malt Shovel Taphouse in Birtinya, which went into administration, and Peak Wine Bar in Maroochydore that went into liquidation.