Celebrity chef Shane Delia reacts as meal delivery service Providoor collapses

Celebrity chef Shane Delia says he is devastated his fine dining meal delivery business Providoor has been forced to close its doors, saying “the hospitality industry has been through hell”.

Shane Delia, founder of Providoor, which has been forced to close its doors and is facing liquidation. Picture: Jay Town

Celebrity chef Shane Delia says he is devastated his fine dining meal delivery business Provdoor has been forced to close its doors.

Providoor was placed into administration on Friday afternoon, and is likely to be plunged into liquidation.

The shock closure leaves dozens of staff out of a job and high-end restaurants across Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra without the popular home delivery service.

Mr Delia told the Saturday Herald Sun he was “gutted” the business was forced to close.

“The hospitality industry been through hell and all I have done is try to create a new marketplace for restaurants and now I can no longer do that and support the industry — it’s heartbreaking,” he said.

Mr Delia said the decision was taken out of his hands and he would personally lose out after a “significant capital partner” in the business “lost faith”.

“I was a director of Providoor — I have personal money in it I will never see,” he said.

“The business was going fine, more restaurants were signing up … we were moving forward and then to have the rug pulled out was really hard.”

Shane Delia says he’s ‘devastated’ over the closure of Providoor.

Mr Delia said all staff would be paid their entitlements, and that his thoughts were with the high-end restaurants which no longer had a delivery service available to them.

“In terms of the restaurants not one of them has had anything negative to say — they are heartbroken and they feel for me,” he said.

Mr Delia, came up with the idea two days after the cancellation of the 2020 Melbourne Grand Prix, after he was forced to send his staff home due to restaurant closures.

The owner of well-known Melbourne restaurant Maha had spied a gap in the market where meal delivery services such as UberEats were servicing fast-food and other basic restaurants but that many consumers were looking for a high-end meal experience from their favourite premium eateries.

Since commencing operations, Providoor has made more than 1.2 million meal deliveries.

The business was profitable and was eyeing off an expansion into Brisbane and possibly overseas.

It is believed Providoor had more than $5m in the bank when one of its investors exercised a contractual caveat to claim those funds back.

Despite drawn-out negotiations and attempts to save the business failed.

When Mr Delia spoke to The Australian in November 2021 on the appointment of a full-time professional CEO for Providoor, he was upbeat about the huge opportunities for the business’s expansion.

“We have ambitions to be a global delivery platform,” he said at the time.

But on Friday, Mr Delia told the Saturday Herald Sun he was “gutted” over the closure of Providoor.

“Other food delivery businesses were falling over and has caused uncertainty and unfortunately we are the victim in this.

“I am a founder and also a customer — the Delia group of restaurants are not Providoor — our restaurants are still open for business,” Mr Delia said.

“Our restaurants are still strong.”