Pope Joan closes city store amid $1m debt pile, work from home shift

A beloved city cafe has been forced to close after struggling under a near $1m debt load, blaming half-empty city office towers for its downfall.

Pope Joan has closed its Melbourne outpost.

A Melbourne hospitality veteran says half-empty city office towers are the “new normal” as he pulls the pin on a beloved CBD cafe.

Pope Joan, run by hospo stalwart David Mackintosh and Thomas Crago, closed on Friday after ongoing financial woes.

The business had called in insolvency restructuring experts at the end of May as it struggled under a near $1m debt load.

Mackintosh said Covid lockdowns and a downturn in CBD foot traffic were to blame.

Pope Joan’s famous reuben sandwich.

“From pre-pandemic to post-pandemic, we have never been able to rebuild half of what we returned,” he told the Herald Sun.

“And that’s because of the function of changed working habits in the city.”

“I do think the speed with which this change has happened means the hospitality industry, but also convenience stores, florists, dry cleaners, locksmiths and all of the service industries that have developed customer bases over the past 50 years, have struggled.”

Mackintosh said his Sofitel forecourt venue couldn’t keep up with the “speed and severity” of the pandemic and the change in work arrangements it had spawned.

“Nobody can change their business that fast,” he said.

“We have to respond to the reality and that is there is only 50 to 60 per cent of daytime workers in the city than there used to be — and they’re not coming back. This is the new normal.”

Restaurateur Dave Mackintosh.

Pope Joan was forced to call in insolvency experts SMB Advisory after the Australian Taxation Office took legal action to recover close to $600,000 it says it is owed.

Other key creditors include landlord Mirvac which is owed $146,943, accountant Think Advisors owed $20,852 and South Australian winery Vinteloper owed $5,055, a report from SMB shows.

The report points out the business regularly turned over $40,000 to $45,000 a week when it opened at the start of 2019.

Mackintosh told the Herald Sun he was in the final stages of negotiating a sale of the business to a buyer.

Pope Joan is hoping to reopen in a new location outside of the CBD later this year, with Mackintosh hinting a northside homecoming may be on the cards.

The restaurant grew a cult-following when star chef Matt Wilkinson first opened in Brunswick East more than a decade ago.

The chef remained at the helm when the venue moved into its new digs beneath the Sofitel hotel in 2019, under the ownership of Mackintosh and Crago.

Wilkinson is now the culinary consultant for Mornington Peninsula winery Montalto.

Mackintosh is also launching Pope Joan’s new outpost at Qantas Domestic Terminal at Melbourne Airport, which has been in the pipeline since 2019 and set to open in September