Administrators lift lid on George Calombaris firesales

The administrators of George Calombaris’s collapsed empire have managed to sell three of the celebrity chef’s 12 restaurants.

The administrators for George Calombaris’ fallen restaurant empire will reveal the sales of the celebrity chef’s high-profile, failed restaurants and food outlets on Thursday. Picture: Media Mode

The administrators of George Calombaris’s collapsed hospitality empire have managed to sell three of the celebrity chef’s 12 high-profile failed restaurants and food outlets.

The firesales come the day before businesses and individuals owed money by Mr Calombaris’s Made Establishment prepare to gather for the first time in Melbourne tomorrow to lodge their claims for unpaid bills.

Voluntary administrator KordaMentha has sold Mr Calombaris’s restaurants in Kew, Brunswick and Brighton.

These were each Mr Calombaris’s trademark Hellenic Republic restaurants, although two had recently been rebranded.

The new owners are said to be contacting former employees towards fresh employment at the venues.

KordaMentha will hold the first meeting of Made’s creditors at its Rialto Tower offices on Thursday, eleven days after the Melbourne group of 22 companies collapsed owing millions of dollars in debt.

The group’s venues included the Jimmy Grants food chain and former MasterChef judge Mr Calombaris’s Hellenic Republic eateries.

Calombaris’s biggest single creditor is the Commonwealth Bank, which is owed in the order of $10 million.

Craig Shepard and Leanne Chesser of KordaMentha at an administrators media briefing regarding the George Calombaris restaurant empire. Picture: AAP

The bank is believed to have extended Made’s lending facility in the final months of the group’s operations towards Calombaris and his millionaire business partner Radek Sali attempting to trade out of their financial difficulties over the usually bumper festive season.

Made also owes money to the Australian Tax Office, which expected to be represented at today’s closed meeting, while Sali has also registered two of his private vehicles as creditors of the failed operations.

When Made collapsed on February 10, it had paid its 400-odd employees all outstanding wages and superannuation.

However, staff may still be owed other entitlements including holiday and long service leave and are therefore expected to also emerge at the meeting as creditors.

The Australian Government, via its Fair Entitlements Guarantee, provides financial assistance to cover certain unpaid employment entitlements to eligible employees who lose their job due to the liquidation or bankruptcy of their employer.

However, because Made for now is in administration and not liquidation or bankruptcy, this avenue to payment is not open to staff.

Other smaller creditors to the group are also expected to be represented at the meeting, which will be conducted by KordaMentha’s Craig Shepard and Leanne Chesser.

These include PR agencies, food and beverage suppliers and even some small tradespeople who have worked on the recent transformations and rebranding of several Made restaurants in an attempt to distance operations from the unpopular celebrity TV chef.

Mid last year Fair Work revealed that Made had underpaid its workers by $7.8 million.

Mr Calombaris and Mr Sali are not expected to attend tomorrow’s meeting.