Oliver’s Real Foods: Founder loans company money following liquidation of Coomera store
The founder of a healthy takeaway shop has loaned the company money to keep it afloat after closing its northern Gold Coast shop.
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THE founder and CEO of Oliver’s Real Foods — which closed its Coomera store on the Gold Coast in March after just nine months — has loaned the company money to keep it afloat.
Oliver’s said yesterday it had accepted an offer from Jason Gunn, whose 17.3 per cent stake makes him the company’s major shareholder, for a short-term loan as it deals with a $331,000 deficit left after cutting costs.
The company did not specify the size of the loan but said its cash reserves would bottom out in August.
It follows the company’s subsidiary Oliver’s Coomera Pty Ltd going into liquidation in March as part of cost-cutting drive when Mr Gunn took over from ex-CEO Greg Madigan.
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Oliver’s Coomera ran the company store between June last year and March at the Pacific Motorway Service Centre on the Exit 54 interchange.
The company left behind debts of close to $800,000, including $500,000 owed to the parent company and $40,000 to the Australian Tax Office.
Mr Madigan told liquidator Philip Hosking, of Helm Advisory, the store had failed because of its poor location and sales and high lease costs.
Mr Hosking said, in a report to creditors from May, that he had he formed the preliminary view that directors of Oliver’s Coomera may have allowed the store to trade insolvent from as early as June.
Oliver’s said yesterday in an ASX release that the first quarter — which runs July 1-September 30 — is traditionally its softest trading period, but it still aims to perform at break even or slightly better.
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“We have been through a process of rebuilding the culture, restructuring the offering, and the team, ensuring we have everyone in the correct position with a clear understanding of their role in driving this business into the future,” Mr Gunn said.
“There has been a palpable, positive shift in energy at all levels of the business, with both the team and the customers responding positively to that shift.”
Mr Gunn returned to the helm of Oliver’s in February amid a management clear-out aimed at stemming worsening losses at the wholefood roadhouse.
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Listed Oliver’s was established to offer “fresh, healthy, natural and organic food” to travellers.
In 2016 it opened an outlet off the Pacific Highway at Chinderah.
Shares closed yesterday up 17 per cent at 4¢.