Hospitality empire collapses, seven bakeries cease trading, 90 staff terminated

A hospitality group has collapsed into liquidation, with all seven of its business ceasing to trade immediately while 90 staff have been affected.

A hospitality group has collapsed into liquidation, with all seven of its business ceasing to trade immediately while 90 staff have been affected.

On Tuesday, BCN Events Group entered liquidation, appointing Mark Holland, Jamie Harris and Anthony Connelly of restructuring firm McGrath Nicol as liquidators.

The Brisbane-based hospitality group operated seven venues specialising in bakery goods which have all shut down overnight.

Those businesses include cooking school Lumiere Culinary Studio and popular cafe Mica which had locations in Newstead and the CBD.

King Street Bakery, based in Bowen Hills, wholesale service provider the Kneadery in Newstead and a commercial production kitchen in Brisbane have also shut.

There were 90 people employed across the seven venues.

“We intend to work with staff, customers and suppliers during this difficult time,” the liquidators said in a statement to news.com.au.

BCN Events Group has gone bust.

90 people are facing unemployment.

The bakery empire was headed by award chef Shannon Kellam.

Mr Kellam also runs the French fine dining restaurant Montrachet and another Mica cafe in the Brisbane’s airport which continue to trade and are not caught up in the collapse.

News.com.au contacted Mr Kellam for comment.

BCN Events hit a rough spot in 2022 which it appeared unable to recover from.

The Courier Mail reported that 18 months ago, the bakery business was hit by a power outage, which destroyed around $150,000 worth of food.

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Seven venues have shut in the wake of the collapse.

It comes as a number of other hospitality businesses across the country have also succumbed amid the economic downturn.

Just a week ago, a popular restaurant in Sydney, Lucky Kwong, headed by iconic chef Kylie Kwong, announced it was shutting down.

Earlier this month, the Botswana Butchery chain which operated as a high-end steak restaurant across three cities went bust, with debts of more than $23 million and more than 200 staff sacked.

The last remaining NSW store of fast food chain Lord of the Fries appears shut down earlier this month after the landlord repossessed the property.

Last month, after 18 years in business, Asian fusion restaurant Gingerboy shut down blaming “market pressures since Covid lockdowns”.

News.com.au also spoke to a hospitality insider who said he was deciding if he was going to liquidate his business in the next 48 hours because things were so dire.

A number of other restaurants have joined the growing pile of corpses, including Japanese chain Sushi Bay, Elements Bar and Grill and three stores in Sydney restaurant franchise Bondi Pizza.

Late last year, arm of major Victorian catering business, Legacy Hospitality Group, went bust with debts in excess of $1.7 million.

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Originally published as Hospitality empire collapses, seven bakeries cease trading, 90 staff terminated