Gold Coast cafe Crema Espresso owner Antony Forbutt locked out of Bundall Rd shop by owner

The landlord for a popular drive-through coffee outlet has locked the doors claiming his tenant owes him unpaid rent.

Antony Forbutt of Crema Espresso.

THE landlord for a popular drive-through coffee outlet in Bundall has locked the doors on his tenant claiming he is owed $185,000 in unpaid rent.

However Crema Espresso’s Antony Forbutt says the dispute with landlord Romolo Bos came to a head when he filed an application in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal alleging Mr Bos had breached the terms of the lease agreement.

The agreement with Crema stipulates the landlord must not grant any lease or licence to another business in the complex where “the predominant purpose of the business is the sale of barista made coffee”.

It goes on to say that this does not preclude the landlord from allowing other tenants the right to sell coffee products as part of their business.

Mr Forbutt, who is managing director of Crema Espresso, which has 19 outlets in Queensland, opened the chain’s first drive-through store at 88 Bundall Rd in March last year.

The Crema Espresso coffee shop at 88 Bundall Rd has closed.

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His store is next to a Freedom service station, which Mr Bos owns, and also on his land.

Mr Forbutt said his lease agreement gave him ‘exclusivity’ for barista-made coffee, however Mr Bos had allowed the Freedom service station to have Di Bella barista-made coffee.

“He allowed that to go in next door despite the agreement,” he said.

Mr Forbutt said the stoush escalated when he filed an application with the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal in May to force the landlord to the negotiating table.

“He moved to shut the store down on July 19,” he said.

“That was two weeks out from our first mediation hearing.”

Romolo Bos, pictured with wife Caroline, has locked out tenant Crema Espresso at 88 Bundall Rd. Picture: Regina King

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Mr Forbutt said he filed the application with QCAT because he “could not tolerate the situation anymore”.

Mr Bos said through a spokesman that the issue is a case of unpaid rent.
“I would not have been able to lock him out if I was in breach of the lease agreement,” he said.

“I have followed the law to the letter.” The store is being advertised for rent.

The first branded Crema Espresso opened on the Gold Coast in 2006 on Tedder Ave, Main Beach.

Crema Espresso has 19 stores in Queensland including The Pines shopping centre in Elanora. Picture: Scott Fletcher

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Since then the company has expanded to include 19 stores, including franchises across the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Toowoomba and the Sunshine Coast.

Mr Forbutt told the Bulletin in 2017 the company was fast-expanding despite a challenging retail environment.

“Retail is bloody hard at the moment,” he said at the time.

Mr Bos is the director of Grocorp Developments and is undertaking a 21-townhouse project in Upper Coomera through his company Bos Property.