Burger Urge founder puts franchise company into liquidation

Burger Urge founder Sean Carthew has put his former franchising company into liquidation owing close to $1m after a heated court dispute with pizza king Tom Potter.

Burger Urge has expanded across Queensland.

Burger Urge founder Sean Carthew has put his former franchising company into liquidation owing close to $1m after a heated court dispute with pizza king Tom Potter.

Bill Karageozis, of McLeod & Partners, has been appointed liquidator of ACN 159 816 832, formerly known as Burger Urge Franchising, after Potter launched a winding up bid in the Supreme Court late last year over an unpaid debt.

The company owes $1m to creditors, according to documents lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Potter, the founder of the Eagle Boys Pizza chain and a former chairman of Burger Urge, claims his company Sonic Foods is owed $233,737 by Carthew’s company.

The Burger Urge chain is continuing to operate and the company in liquidation is not a trading entity.

Sonic served a creditor’s statutory demand for payment of the debt on Burger Urge Franchising last year. Sonic alleges Carthew’s company owes the money as part of an out-of-court settlement agreed in November 2016 to settle a bitter Federal Court fight with Potter over the Burger Urge store at the Logan Hyperdome.

Brothers Colby and Sean Carthew. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

That case related to Burger Urge Franchising slapping Sonic with a termination notice over Sonic’s Logan store, ordering it to close over an alleged breach of the franchising agreement when Potter allegedly called the company’s new burger patties “crap”. Mr Potter denies he breached the agreement. As part of the 2016 settlement agreement, Burger Urge Franchising agreed to buy back the Logan Hyperdome store from Sonic for $262,500 with $50,000 to be paid immediately and the remaining $212,500 to be paid in five years. The Logan Hyperdome store no longer trades, court documents state.

Sonic alleges in court documents that Carthew’s company has failed to pay the $212,500 due on November 18, plus interest, totalling $233,737. Carthew and his brother Colby began the chain 15 years ago, opening their first store in New Farm, then at West End. It now has 26 stores, but had plans for up to 40 back in 2016. Comment was sought from Sean Carthew.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

FareShare, a fantastic charity being run in Queensland by former Brisbane Powerhouse boss Fiona Maxwell, is putting the shout out for more help from the top end of town.

FareShare takes food that would otherwise be thrown into landfill and turns it into about 5000 healthy meals each day predominantly distributed in regional Queensland including St George, Cairns, Townsville and Gayndah. The charity operates out of a kitchen at Morningside where it has four fulltime chefs supported by volunteers.

Woolworths support staff donating their time to cook in FareShare's kitchen

The dilemma is demand for FareShare’s services are going up as Covid-19 continues to disrupt food supply. At the same time, the availability of volunteers is under pressure.

Fare Share’s patron is former ANZ chair Charles Goode and its Brisbane-based Board members include Place Design chair Ian Klug and well-known lawyer Margot de Groot.

DEAL OF THE WEEK

If you think the commercial property market is a bit frantic at the moment, you’re right, and it’s not just the big end of town stuff.

Chase Commercial’s Thomas Hartman was happy to sell a B-grade office/warehouse that was vacant for about seven months at 31 Standish St, Salisbury, for $1.932m plus GST. Frank and Maria Nucifora settled on the purchase of the 1600sq m refurbished building on September 15 and were reportedly on the lookout for a tenant. But a couple of months later they called Agency HQ Commercial’s Paul Flego wanting to sell it.

Flego reports within 48 hours he and colleague Josh Webb had a contract signed by a Korean food importer willing to pay $2.3m for the property.