A Sydney man acted “audaciously” by selling his charcoal chicken shop to his friend for $100,000 before changing his mind, locking his friend out, and continuing to run the business for two years after the deal, a judge has found.
The NSW Supreme Court was asked to resolve the long-running feud between the formerly close pair and delivered a decision this month.
Paradise Charcoal Chicken at Mount Druitt was at the centre of a NSW Supreme Court battle.Credit: Google
The court heard Simon Munzer had set up Paradise Charcoal Chicken near Mount Druitt train station in 2008. In August 2022, his long-time friend, Fouad (Frank) Bachour, bought the business for $100,000.
Bachour’s company later transferred a further $7514.76 to Munzer for stock.
“The landlord was asked to assign the lease to [Bachour]. The business’ suppliers were notified of a change of ownership,” Justice Kelly Rees said in her decision.
Bachour’s company made the first rent payment in August and started paying suppliers and wages.
The men subsequently signed a seven-page written heads of agreement about the sale.
But on October 18, 2022, Munzer’s new lawyer told Bachour’s lawyer, who prepared the heads of agreement, that his client “doesn’t want to sell the business”.
Munzer told Bachour at a meeting days later that “he had someone lined up who was interested in buying the business, taking a sub-lease and then returning the business to him after five years”, the judge said.
“Mr Bachour said that Mr Munzer could not do that as it was not his business to sell any more. Mr Munzer replied that he had built up the business for years and had decided he wanted it back after five years. ‘I only sold it to you because I needed the cash for my house’.”
Within days, the friendship soured further. The court heard that Bachour had decided not to open the shop until the afternoon of October 31, 2022, because of staff shortages in the morning.
“However, Mr Bachour received a text message from his son, who told him that the business was open,” Rees said. He discovered Munzer had opened the shop.
After the police were called, “Mr Bachour closed the shop for the day and placed a chain and lock on the front door”, the judge said.
“The next morning, when Mr Bachour attended the premises, the chain and lock lay broken on the floor,” Rees said. The judge said Munzer “has continued to run the business in the two years since”.
Rees rejected Munzer’s claims that he was not bound by the agreement for a number of reasons, including alleged misleading or deceptive conduct by Bachour and his company.
“A reasonable person in the position of Mr Munzer would not have been misled,” Rees said.
The judge concluded Munzer “sold the business to his long-time friend … as he was in need of funds”, but he “changed his mind and, quite audaciously, retook possession of the shop. The only person who was exploited ... was Mr Bachour.”
Rees ordered Munzer to give effect to the agreement with Bachour.
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