Dinner by Heston has been placed into voluntary administration
In a shock move, Heston Blumenthal’s fancy Dinner by Heston was placed into voluntary administration. But the eatery has issued a statement on its future in Melbourne.
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Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal’s flagship Melbourne restaurant has been placed into voluntary administration.
Dinner By Heston was handed to provisional liquidators on Friday after a Federal Court hearing in Sydney.
Court orders state an application was made to wind up the company behind the restaurant, “on grounds of insolvency”.
Papers filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission reveal it has been under financial strain for some time.
Company reports showed the business made a loss of $492,004 in 2018 and a loss of $308,526 in 2017.
BRI Ferrier principal Brian Silvia last night said the pricey restaurant at Crown casino would stay open.
“It is trading as normal at the moment,” he said, adding that it would continue to do so into the new year. “At the moment yes, it is profitable.”
Tipsy Cake Pty Ltd, the company which owns the restaurant, last night released a statement that Dinner By Heston’s doors would stay open.
“The voluntary appointment of the provisional liquidators will enable appropriate actions to continue the restaurant’s current successful and profitable trading and to fulfil its obligations,” the statement said.
“The provisional liquidators’ role is a caretaker capacity, maintaining the status quo of the restaurant and they intend to continue to operate the now profitable business with the anticipated co-operation of Crown.
“There is no expectation of disruption to the restaurant’s highly acclaimed fine-dining experience and the intention is that all bookings will continue to be honoured in the normal course.”
The Federal Court gave the administrators power to “hire or discharge” employees, “discontinue the business” and deal with creditors.
It gave Tipsy Cake until Monday to notify Crown and until January 3 to advise employees of its situation.
Tipsy Cake Pty Ltd is based on Nevis, an island in the Caribbean.
While Dinner By Heston sports his name, Blumenthal does not own the business and the restaurant operates under a licence arrangement.
But Blumenthal was present at its launch and is promoted as the mastermind behind the brand and exotic dishes. The superstar British chef has been a regular at the venue and has promoted it strongly here.
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Blumenthal originally arrived in Melbourne in early 2015 with a version of his acclaimed restaurant, The Fat Duck.
After six months he took The Fat Duck back to the UK and in its place opened the Australian outpost of his ultra-modern dining experience Dinner By Heston, where a degustation menu costs $295 per person.
In a statement released yesterday Crown said: “Whilst this is disappointing, Crown has had initial discussions with the court appointed liquidators and will continue to work with them.”