Egg processing companies launched by former Retail Food Group bosses Tony Alford and Alicia Atkinson in administration, court action looms

Champagne-wielding models at a mansion, a failed egg processing venture, falling out with investors and a looming court action. Find out what high-profile executive pair have done since leaving Retail Food Group under a cloud.

Former Retail Food Group executive Alicia Atkinson has been renting out her “Gatsby” mansion for fashion photo shoots.

AN egg-processing operation hatched by two former executives of Retail Food Group has cracked amid a falling out with its high-profile investors.

Former RFG boss Tony Alford tipped four companies related to the egg business into administration last week. The move came shortly after a Supreme Court action was launched to place assets of a fifth company, also related to the egg business, into receivership.

The court action was launched by two companies, including one directed by Nabi Saleh, who sold the Australian rights to the Gloria Jeans coffee brand to RFG for $164m in 2015.

Former Gloria Jeans Executive Chairman Nabi Saleh and ex RFG CEO Tony Alford in happier times. Photo: Kit Wise

Documents lodged with the Supreme Court reveal Tea & Coffee Traders, a company directed by Mr Saleh, 74, and Network Clothing Company, directed by Margaret and Mark Eddy, formed a partnership in 2017 with two companies directed by former RFG executive Alicia Atkinson.

The court action seeks to dissolve the partnership, known as the Vision Street Partnership, and place its assets, which include the $25m egg facility, into receivership.

The application is set for a hearing in Brisbane on November 26.

One of the Atkinson-directed companies subject to the court action, GJDT Investments, owns a lavish Mount Tamborine property known locally as “the Gatsby mansion”, which is listed in company documents as Ms Atkinson’s home address.

As well as egg processing, the post-RFG business interests of Ms Atkinson, 51, have included renting out the breathtaking mansion, which has been renamed Visions Estate, for high-end photo shoots and marriage proposals.

Trading as Australian Pasteurised Eggs, the egg business operated from a $25m production facility outside Toowoomba and could churn out up to 500,000 eggs a day.

Alicia Atkinson’s mansion, Visions Estate, has been rented out for fashion photo shoots.

Alicia Atkinson’s mansion, Visions Estate, has been rented out for fashion photo shoots.

Neither Mr Alford nor Ms Atkinson responded to questions about their operations.

Four companies linked to the egg business – Safe Eggs Assured, Australian Pasteurised Eggs, National Pasteurised Eggs (Australia) and holding company The Original Safe Eggs Assured Company – were placed into administration on November 9 and 10.

In his director’s report of the holding company, The Original Safe Eggs Assured, Mr Alford declared it owed $11.5m to creditors, but was in turn owed $13.1m.

All the creditors and debtors are companies directed by Mr Alford or Ms Atkinson.

For National Pasteurised Eggs (Australia), Mr Alford reported $9.17m in debts to related companies and $4.8m in assets, including factory and office equipment.

For Safe Eggs Assured, Mr Alford reported $5.8m in creditor debts, including $3.77m to related parties, and reported assets of unknown value to the company, including domain names, trademarks and a pasteurisation and technology licence.

For trading company Australian Pasteurised Eggs, Mr Alford reported that $123,000 in director fees were owed by the company and that it held $439,000 in assets.

He reported that company owed Vision Street Property Partnership $2.73m.

Liquidator Matthew Bookless of SV Partners declined to comment on the matter.

Australia Pasteurised Eggs hoped to process 50,000 eggs per day but the company is now in administration.

The holding company is itself majority owned by yet another company, NPE (Consortium), which is directed by accountant Mr Alford, 62, and has Ms Atkinson listed as sole shareholder.

While Mr Alford has been sole director of Australian Pasteurised Eggs since 2019, previous directors include Ms Atkinson, Mr Eddy, Geoffrey Sondergeld and Kyriakos Skoullos – founder of the Hudson Pacific food company which was bought by RFG for $88m in 2016.

RFG sold the food company back to its previous owners last year in a $2.6m transaction which ultimately cost the franchisor $5.9m due to impairments and costs it incurred exiting the business.

Australian Pasteurised Eggs, and Ms Atkinson’s companies named in the Supreme Court action, are registered at the office of Mr Alford’s former Robina accountancy firm Alfords, which changed its name to F4 Partners in 2018.

Mr Alford, an accountant, spent more than a decade at RFG. He stepped down as managing director in mid-2016 and left the business the following year. Ms Atkinson left her senior executive role in 2017.

Appearing before the parliamentary committee was former RFG CEO Tony Alford and Senior Executive Alicia Atkinson. Picture Gary Ramage

RFG, which includes Donut King, Crust Pizza, Brumby’s Bakeries, Gloria Jean’s, Michel’s Patisserie, Pizza Capers and Di Bella Coffee, faced heavy criticism for its business practices and is being pursued by the ACCC for alleged unconscionable conduct.

In a scathing report released in early 2019, a parliamentary inquiry into Australia’s franchise sector found RFG had “churned and burned’’ franchisees as part of a pattern of “systemic’’ exploitation. The report also criticised Mr Alford, who it described as not a “reliable or credible witness’’.

Mr Alford and Ms Atkinson appeared together at the parliamentary inquiry and were grilled about whether they were a couple.

The pair both denied that they had been in a “domestic partnership”, although Ms Atkinson said the pair had holidayed in Port Douglas “on occasion”.

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