Company behind Chinese restaurant Sky Surfers Paradise wound up over $319,000 tax debt
The company behind another well-known restaurant has been wound-up after the business failed to pay a $319,000 tax bill.
Business
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THE company behind well-known Chinese yum cha restaurant Sky Surfers Paradise has been wound up over a $319,000 tax debt — however the restaurant itself has continued to trade.
Sky Surfers Paradise has traded for five years on level one of the Hilton, next to the Ugg store, with the same director also operating Sky Restaurant at Marina Mirage.
The company behind Sky Marina Mirage has not been wound up.
A Sky Surfers Paradise staff member who answered the phone said he was not aware the company had been wound up but that he understood it was undergoing “a little bit of a restructure”.
The owners did not return calls from the Bulletin to both restaurants.
Liquidator James Imray of Rodgers Reidy was appointed to Sky Surfers Paradise company Simika Pty Ltd after the tax office took it to the Federal Court.
Court documents reveal the company had outstanding tax and related charges of $319,208.59 as of February 6.
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Mr Imray said it was too early in the liquidation to know how much was owed by the company or what may have caused it to fail.
He said he was waiting for the ATO to provide details of the current level of debt and for the company’s directors, Jiaxing Huang and Duancheng Huang, to provide details of debts to any other creditors.
The failure of the Sky Surfers Paradise company is the latest in a string of collapses in the Gold Coast hospitality sector.
In May, companies behind acclaimed Gold Coast eateries Commune Cafe and Etsu Izakaya failed owing more than $770,000 to staff and the tax office, but continued to trade as the businesses were sold to related companies shortly before the liquidations.
Investigations into the sale of the businesses are ongoing.
Two popular Italian restaurants failed in two days last month, with the unrelated companies behind That Italian Place at Chevron Island and Cicchetti at Isle of Capri both in liquidation.
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Mr Imray said accommodation and food services businesses were among the most common corporate failures and that food delivery services had hurt the sector.
“These often charge the restaurant up to about a third (or 35 per cent) of the order amount, which will substantially eat into a significant part, if not all, of the profit that would otherwise be made on the order,” he said.
“The difficulty as explained by one of my local restaurant is that if they don’t sign up and sell through those delivery methods they receive zero revenue in relation to those sales as the orders are simply filled and delivered via another restaurant.
“Either way, many restaurants are finding that the customers who would previously dine in or collect their own takeaway, where the business would receive 100 per cent of the sales revenue, are now starting to make up an ever decreasing proportion of their business.”
Mr Imray said any business not fully up to date with wages, suppliers and other payments including PAYG, superannuation, WorkCover and income tax should seek immediate help.
“And I mean today,” he said.
“We see far too often businesses left without options other than to close when action taken three or six months earlier could have allowed a very different outcome.
“The failure to take immediate action with financial difficulties leads to procrastination and a reluctance and delay in facing the difficult issues that need to be addressed.
“The delay almost certainly makes it harder for a business to survive as the once strong trust and support from customers, suppliers, staff, financiers and the statutory authorities is quickly lost as the financial situation deteriorates and nothing is seen to be done about it.”
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