Hand Picked Events and Marketing, company behind Grass is Greener Festival, put into administration owing $2.5m
A four-city music festival run by a well-known restaurateur has gone into administration owing millions to gutted artists, suppliers, the tax office and fans.
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Music festival Grass is Greener - spanning four cities - has gone into administration owing more than $2.5m to gutted artists, suppliers, the tax office and disappointed fans.
As small businesses count the costs of the collapse, administrators are set to review more than $570,000 in loans by the festival to other companies operated by its founders Johnathan Eddings and Oliver “Oli” Frost - a well-known Gold Coast restaurateur.
Grass is Greener booked shows for Cairns, Gold Coast, Canberra and Geelong. But ticket sales were so low organisers were unable to meet obligations to headline artists, some of whom pulled out at the last minute.
Gold Coast headliners Ty Dolla $ign, ZHU and Maya Jane Coles all pulled pin, with Sydney drill-rap outfit ONEFOUR breaking the news to its fans on social media.
Organisers were forced to cancel the Geelong and Canberra festivals. Documents lodged with ASIC show they sold less than 1900 tickets across both shows.
The company behind the festival, Hand Picked Events and Marketing, went into administration on December 8.
The restaurants
With champion ironman Matt Poole, Mr Frost operates the Maman restaurant in James St Burleigh Heads.
He also operates takeaway restaurant Naami directly beside Maman and Lucia Bar and Kitchen, which trades as Lucia Tapas, at Tugun.
Mr Frost’s hospitality companies are listed as owing more than $570,000 to Hand Picked – of which just a fraction is expected to be repaid.
According to the director’s report to the administrator, Hand Picked Events loaned more than $411,000 to Tugun Beers, the company behind Lucia Tapas; $78,634 to Nam Bar, the company behind Naami; and another $79,655 to Lewis Invest Holdings, a company directed and beneficially held by Mr Eddings, of which Mr Frost is also a shareholder.
There is no connection between Maman or Mr Poole apparent in documents lodged with ASIC.
Mr Frost’s report said he only expected to recoup $80,000 of the $570,000 in loans to his other companies, meaning less funds are likely to be made available to creditors.
Administrator Tom Vandermeer, of BCR Advisory, said Hand Picked Events could be a victim of Covid restrictions and floods which impacted ticket sales.
“It’s a little bit early to tell what those impacts were, we’ll know more after the second creditors meeting,” he said.
Mr Vandermeer said he would look into the loans to related companies “to determine what’s legitimate”.
“I feel completely betrayed”
Among those creditors are artists, logistics contractors and music agencies, including Cult Artists, which is owed $330,000 and United Talent Agency, which is owed $117,785.
At least another $158,340 is owed to the Australian Taxation Office, while $120,900 is owed to ticket holders and $6000 is reported as owed to SPER.
Mr Frost’s mother Karen Fines is listed in Mr Frost’s report as being owed $15,000 and Mr Eddings is listed as owed $16,106 – neither are marked as related parties of the company.
Companies who worked to put on the Cairns and Gold Coast events, which sold around 6500 and 6000 tickets respectively, say they were repeatedly assured they would all be paid.
Despite living from event to event, many agreed in good faith to work after taking reduced deposits.
One creditor, owed more than $100,000 and speaking on condition of anonymity, said the collapse had been devastating.
“It had been a successful event in the past, so I’m not sure what happened.”
Another creditor, an industry veteran, was owed more than $5000.
“I’ve never had anything like this happen, it’s sickening, it’s awful,” they said.
“We pulled 16-hour days to deliver the event, everyone works their arse off - it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”
Fans devastated
Organisers told some disgruntled festival fans refunds were being held up due to the collapse of London-based festival package company Festicket, which went into administration in September with debts of around $44.5m.
Although Festicket was an “official partner” of Grass is Greener, there is no sign of the festival or its directors in the lengthy list of creditors lodged with the UK regulator for Festicket.
Mr Frost’s director report reveals names of more than 1200 people who bought about 1900 tickets to the cancelled Canberra and Geelong shows.
Social media channels of the festival have closed comments on many of its posts after being flooded with complaints from people chasing refunds. Tickets for the festival sold from $140 to $270 each.
A new company
Hand Picked Events and Marketing was formed to run Grass is Greener by Cairns mates Oliver Frost and Johnathan Eddings in 2017, but both left as directors from July to October 2022.
In those three months TikTok-famous Burleigh Heads lawyer James Diamond stepped in as director and secretary.
Mr Frost, also known as Oliver Fines-Frost, returned as director on September 30.
On October 16, a new company was created and named Jeoff – the combined initials of Mr Eddings and Mr Fines-Frost – which holds the business name Handpicked Hospitality.
Jeoff’s holding companies, named Project Prosperity and Project Opulence, are directed and owned respectively by Mr Eddings and Mr Frost.
The pair also jointly direct and own another company, Hand Picked Group, which was created in August 2021.
The Gold Coast Bulletin sent inquiries to Mr Frost and Mr Eddings, who did not respond before publication.
A second meeting of creditors has been scheduled for January 23.
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