George Calombaris built an empire and found fame, but now it all has come crashing down
The son of migrants raised in suburban Mulgrave, by his early 30s Calombaris was the most famous chef in the country and hosted the highest rating TV show. This is how it all fell apart.
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The picking over of the corpse of the George Calombaris food empire by possible buyers for its leases, fittings and furniture could be complete within days.
But the question of what now for the celebrity chef is one that will take much longer to answer.
As his empire went into administration this week, Calombaris put his Toorak mansion on the market in a sale which could fetch millions.
It seems another attempt by Calombaris to draw a line under a horror three years.
Calombaris’ fall has been dramatic.
But to suggest he might just go away — to move to Greece as one conspiracy theory suggests — misreads the man.
The son of migrants raised in suburban Mulgrave, by his early 30s he was the most famous chef in the country and hosted the highest rating TV show.
Initially backed by property investor George Sykiotis and steel industry veterans Joe Calleja and Tony Lachimea, The MAdE Establishtment would grow into seven cookbooks, 16 restaurants — most famously The Press Club, in the old Herald & Weekly Times building in Flinders St — and more than 500 staff.
How did the good news story of the immigrant boy next door made good turn so toxic?
It all starts with a warning by Fair Work over the underpayment of one worker in 2015.
MAdE thought that was it and the issue resolved.
But when another self made rich lister, Radek Sali, bought into the business in late 2016 the full horror slowly dawned.
Sali had made wealth estimated to be close to $390m when he sold his stake in the Swisse Wellness.
Sali bought out the previous investors and brought in his own executives. As it all became clear the affair was self-reported to the Fair Work Ombudsman on April 3, 2017.
An initial underpayment estimate of $2.6 million eventually hit $7.8 million, and most was repaid by October 2017, but Fair Work had to finish its investigation.
But some insiders say an incident in May 2017 seemed to have more of an impact with Calombaris’ image than the underpayment.
Calombaris got in trouble after allegedly shoving a 19-year-old as his beloved Melbourne Victory was beaten 4-2 in a penalty shootout by Sydney FC.
The famous chef would win an appeal against a conviction over the incident in which he said his mother was insulted.
The personal troubles kept building.
In 2018, Calombaris was on the receiving end from his neighbour in Toorak — this time over the construction of a backyard gym.
His neighbour Helen Elsworth, 71, said he was “the worst neighbour I’ve had in my life”.
It all reached a spectacular head last July when Fair Work finally revealed their completed investigation in which MAdE apologised and paid a $200,000 fine for underpayments between 2011 and 2017.
Within a week Calombaris, and fellow MasterChef judges Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan revealed they would be leaving the show with Ten saying it could not meet their pay demands.
All this time Sali — a man used to turning businesses around — and his team were working to get MAdE back on its feet.
A major rebranding of high-profile venues saw Hellenic Hotel Williamstown become Hotel Argentina, Hellenic Republic Brunswick became Crofter Dining Room and The Press Club became Elektra.
But the public seemingly no longer wanted the Calombaris brand.
On Monday at 4.15pm the empire was placed in the hands of restructuring experts Craig Shepard and Leanne Chesser of KordaMentha.
The administrator was not unsympathetic to the efforts MAdE — particularly Sali — had put in.
Mr Shepard pointed out they had self reported, paid everyone back and were getting good reviews. But the public had turned away.
“Year to date trade … they are 50 per cent down on where they expected them to be,” Mr Shepard said.
He also pointed out Sali had put more money — understood to be more than $250,000 — into the organisation over the weekend to make sure wages were paid.
Mr Shepard said the business could not be traded back to health.
“Unfortunately when we’ve taken the appointment the group is without any funds – without any funds were personally liable – we can’t pay wages, we can’t pay for ongoing liabilities.”
Instead — the selling of the leases and equipment was the only way to possibly save some of the 400 jobs who might be re-employed under new owners.
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Mr Shepard was pointed in saying this was not an investigation into Calombaris. He pointed out Calombaris is only a shareholder and “we don’t investigate shareholders”.
Calombaris stopped being a director in 2018 of the many MAdE businesses in May 2018 — since that time he has been a 46 per cent shareholder.
He is still a director of seven different companies — not associated with MAdE — including the intriguingly named GaryGeorge&Matt Pty Ltd which only started in February last year.
It is understood to be the entity which holds the TV rights for the trio.
Some say Calombaris needs to regroup but he is plotting his next move.
While people stopped coming to the restaurants it is fair to say the interest in Calombaris the person — what he does next — has never been greater.