Restaurant Revolution winner Asa Donehue claims he has lost $100,000 in Nobby Beach restaurant deal gone wrong

A reality TV winner has told how his Gold Coast dream turned into a “nightmare” after a deal to take over the lease of a renowned venue went sour.

A reality TV winner says he lost more than $100,000 and was forced to rip out a newly fitted cafe in Nobby Beach, after a deal to take over the lease went sour.

Adelaide hospitality figure Asa Donehue - who won Channel 7’s Restaurant Revolution in 2015, hosted by the late Jock Zonfrillo - moved into the space formerly occupied by Forreal Kitchen, owned by Kylie Fitzgerald, after falling in love with the Gold Coast lifestyle.

Mr Donehue said he agreed to take over Ms Fitzgerald’s lease with landlord Kam Yin Kwan as well as to purchase assets from Forreal Kitchen and was granted early entry to the premises to complete a new fit-out and start trading as Commitment Issues cafe while contracts were organised.

However he said the process to re-assign the lease stalled due to a number of missing items listed on the asset sale, which he said were worth approximately $10,000 of the $35,000 sale price.

Ms Fitzgerald did not respond to the Gold Coast Bulletin and her former lawyer, Andrew Taylor from Marino Law, said he could not comment as he no longer represented her.

Ms Fitzgerald owned the neighbouring Mr, now being taken over by Sparrow Coffee, and previously co-owned The Arc.

Asa Donehue with his dog Lexi. Picture: Glenn Campbell.

Mr Donehue said he paid a $15,000 fully refundable deposit as a show of good faith, but became concerned when he says Ms Fitzgerald began asking him to pay the rest of the sale price despite the missing items, and contacted Chan Lawyers, representing the landlord, to inquire whether there were any other outstanding debts or payments.

Chan Lawyers then sent Mr Donehue the official letter of lease requirements which claimed that Ms Fitzgerald owed almost $40,000 in deferred rent relief payments as well as months of unpaid rent.

“If the tenant assigns or sells the business then the whole balance of the deferred payment is due and payable,” states the letter.

“Balance owing under the deed is $36,906.13 which was following the last payment by them on 20/05/2024. The additional amount as shown in the Rental Ledger is what they had not paid in June 2024, plus a couple of missed payments, and then following their last payment on 11/11/2024, they had stopped paying.”

He was also sent the Deed of Rent Relief which stated: “The balance of the Deferred Amount shall immediately be repaid to the landlord if the tenant assigns or sublet the premises or sell its business.”

An email sent from Chan Lawyers to Ms Fitzgerald’s lawyers and seen by the Bulletin stated this information was to have been sent to Mr Donehue, but he said he never received it.

He said he was only sent an email from Ms Fitzgerald which copied the information from this document, but omitted information about the rental arrears.

Despite already spending almost $70,000 renovating the premises, which he said was ‘filthy’ when he was given the keys in mid-December, as well as the $15,000 deposit, Mr Donehue said he could not afford to pay an estimated $60,000 or more on someone else’s debt.

He claims that once he confronted Ms Fitzgerald about these unexpected costs, she said she would pick up the keys, change the locks and refund his deposit.

Forreal Kitchen in its heyday. Picture: Jerad Williams

The venue was a popular fixture at Nobby Beach. Picture: Nigel Hallett.

Mr Donehue said he worked overnight to clear all of his equipment out of the premises, but his deposit has still not been returned.

He said he had already been trading for weeks and thousands of dollars’ worth of fresh produce were delivered to the address as he was cleaning it out.

Mr Donehue said he had been offered a brand new lease, with the landlord saying he would pursue Ms Fitzgerald for the debts, but he was too badly burned to continue.

“I spent so much time and money cleaning up that shop, she now has a clean and fresh space to try to give to someone else and I have nothing,” he said.

“It’s a hard lesson learned not to spend a cent until the contracts are settled, but I have certainly learned it.

“The day I found out about this, we were meant to be opening for our first night of dinner and I had thousands of dollars’ worth of meat, cheese and bread … I gave away as much as I could but it was just another waste in this whole saga.

“I don’t want to badmouth someone but my life is being ruined, I want to make sure no one else makes the same mistake that I did.”

Mr Donehue claims he lost more than $100,000. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Mr Donehue said his other successful cafes in Adelaide continued to operate and he would survive financially, but he was no longer sure whether he would stay on the Gold Coast.

He said he planned to spend the next few weeks at his Mermaid Waters home, where he and his partner recently bought a new house, to look after his dog Lexi, who was dying from cancer.

“I’m going to lick my wounds and look after Lexi, she hasn’t got long left,” he said.

“It’s just turned what we thought was going to be a wonderful new life on the Gold Coast into a nightmare, we really thought we would be here forever but now we’re not sure.

“I’ll try to get into some consulting work, I don’t think I want to open anything here right now, and I’ll just wait until some time has passed before we make any decisions.”