Milky Lane, Lucia Tapas Garden, Naami and Maman Bar and Kitchen: Oli Frost and Johnny Eddings-linked venues face $1.45m debt dispute
A disputed $1.45m debt has plunged four popular Gold Coast restaurants and bars linked to Gold Coast entrepreneurs Oli Frost and Johnny Eddings into administration.
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A disputed $1.45m debt has plunged four popular Gold Coast restaurants and bars linked to Gold Coast entrepreneur Oli Frost into administration.
The trading entities behind Johnathan “Johnny” Eddings and Oliver Fines-Frost-linked venues Milky Lane burger bar in Surfers Paradise, Lucia Tapas Garden in Tugun, plus Naami and Maman Bar and Kitchen in Burleigh Heads, all entered administration in June.
It marks the third time since December 2021 that a trading entity behind Milky Lane has gone into external administration.
All four businesses previously entered liquidation in 2023 but continued trading through entities which are now being administered by accountancy group Hall Chadwick’s John Vouris.
Mr Eddings and Mr Frost are challenging the appointment of Mr Vouris and his co-administrators Kathleen Vouris and Richard Albarran in the Queensland Supreme Court.
Lawyer Jarred Winterkorn, representing both Mr Eddings and Mr Frost, confirmed an application had been filed in court to terminate the “purported administration, and for related relief”.
Mr Winterkorn said the basis of the application was two-fold.
He said there was “an apparent absence of independence of the administrators”, and that “the administration is an abuse of process”.
The venues appear to continue to trade, and bookings are available through their websites.
Mr Vouris said his appointment was made by a secured creditor who was owed $1.45m, and the four companies had guaranteed the debt.
The secured creditor is DN Holdings Pty Ltd, directed and held by Adelaide social media financial influencer and entrepreneur David Nicholas, aka The Captain Davo.
Mr Nicholas, who boasts 800,000 followers online, found fame sharing high-stakes gambling videos.
He launched debt recovery proceedings against Mr Eddings and Mr Frost and their companies in the Brisbane Supreme Court in September 2024.
That legal action is being defended by Mr Eddings, Mr Frost, and their companies.
It remains ongoing.
Mr Winterkorn said DN Holdings’ claim was “wholly denied by our clients”.
“Our clients are confident that they will be successful in that proceedings,” Mr Winterkorn said.
“Given this, it is inappropriate to make any further comment in relation to this matter at this time.”
Mr Eddings is the sole director of all four companies, with Mr Fines-Frost, also known as Oli Frost, the sole shareholder of Maman Bar and Kitchen GC Pty Ltd.
The pair have an equal share in the other three businesses – Milky Lane Goldcoast Pty Ltd, Naami Pty Ltd, and Lucia Tapas Garden Pty Ltd.
In addition to the $1.45m debt, the four companies owe between $800-900,000 to the Australian Taxation Office, Mr Vouris said.
Mr Winterkorn said his clients had been “working cooperatively with the ATO to meet their obligations prior to the purported appointment of the administrators”.
“They have done so by entering into (and meeting) formal and agreed payment plans with the ATO.”
Milky Lane’s liquor licence has been transferred to Australian Marts Pty Ltd, a company directed by 21-year-old Youssef Alhassan and which lists its principal place of business 106-108 Glasson St in the Western Downs town of Chinchilla.
Last week, prior to Mr Frost and Mr Eddings challenging the administration in court, Mr Vouris said he would be recommending the companies be liquidated at the next meeting of creditors.
“The liquidator will be continuing to investigate the affairs and possibly examine the director, the accountant.”
Chequered history
Mr Eddings and Mr Fines-Frost’s business and legal woes can be traced back to the failure of their The Grass is Greener music festival in December 2022.
The festival, operated by Hand Picked Events and Marketing Pty Ltd, was initially placed in voluntary administration but was later liquidated in July 2023, leaving behind more than $3m in debts to suppliers and unhappy ticketholders.
More than $760,000 of the festival’s money was loaned, interest-free, to restaurants and bars linked to Mr Fines-Frost and Mr Eddings, as well as an F45 gym in Lismore linked to Mr Frost, according to administrators.
The companies behind the restaurants and bars went into liquidation later in 2023, owing more than $2.3m to unsecured creditors, according to reports lodged with ASIC.
At the time, Mr Fines-Frost said spiralling costs after the pandemic, coupled with unforeseen extreme weather conditions and “an already tough environment for live entertainment and hospitality industries” contributed to the demise of the festival.
An administrator’s report for Hand Picked Events and Marketing Pty Ltd said in the weeks leading up to the festival’s collapse, the company secured a $1.25m loan from DN Holdings Pty Ltd, directed by Adelaide social media financial influenced David Nicholas.
Also caught up in the collapse of the companies in 2023 was former Ironman champion Matt Poole – the ex-partner of Gold Coast mega-influencer Tammy Hembrow.
Mr Poole was left $30,000 out of pocket when Maman Bar and Kitchen Pty Ltd went into liquidation in 2023.
Mr Fines-Frost’s mum Karen Fines was sole director of Maman Bar and Kitchen Pty Ltd, which listed Mr Poole, Mr Fines-Frost, Ms Fines, Aaron Van Zeeland and Fryer Walker Pty Ltd as shareholders.
In August 2023, Mr Poole spoke to the Gold Coast Bulletin expressing his concerns that while Mr Frost was posting social media snaps while overseas on holidays living “a very lavish lifestyle with his fiancee”, successful fashion designer and podcaster Nikki Westcott, his businesses were struggling.
Mr Poole said he was a “friend of Oli’s and when he asked me to invest in his business I thought he would always act in the best interest of the business and me as a friend”.
“It’s really disappointing to see he’s closed Maman Bar and Kitchen (the company) … and I have been squeezed out.”
Mr Fines-Frost and Ms Westcott were married at a beautiful ceremony in the Byron Bay hinterland in October 2024, which featured in Vogue Australia.
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