Celebrity chef’s new Brisbane steak restaurants owe $1m, months after Melbourne restaurant shuts down

A celebrity chef’s newly launched hospitality business has struck a deal with creditors after being unable to pay nearly $1 million of debt.

A celebrity chef’s newly launched hospitality business has struck a deal with creditors after being unable to pay nearly $1 million of debt.

News.com.au can reveal TV chef Adrian Richardson and lawyer Liam McMahon, who are co-directors in the venture, were forced to call in restructuring partners after a string of their Queensland restaurants ran into trouble.

Mr Richardson is perhaps best known as the presenter of television show Good Chef Bad Chef about a decade ago and also featured as special guests on MasterChef Australia and Iron Chef America.

He’s now in the lime light for a very different reason.

Se7evn Brisbane Pty Ltd, the entity behind Aviary Terrace Bar Brisbane, BOS Brisbane, BOS Bar & Grill, BOS Grill and Bos Restaurant, recently appointed external restructuring partners.

It comes just a month after Mr Richardson announced the closure of one of his Melbourne restaurants, La Luna, after being in business for 25 years. La Luna will be serving its last meal on August 3. Mr McMahon is not involved in this business.

Celebrity chef Adrian Richardson with a suckling pig.

The BOS string of steak restaurants have entered into a restructuring plan.

In late May, Mr Richardson said Melbourne was a “tough city” to run a restaurant, contributing to his decision to shut down La Luna.

He pinned his hopes on Queensland’s capital, becoming the director of the BOS group of steakhouses, and an accompanying cocktail bar, Aviary Terrace, in Queen Street in the Brisbane city centre.

“Brisbane is a smaller city, younger and more vibrant,” the TV chef said at the time.

Unfortunately, things weren’t so rosy in the Sunshine State for him either.

The BOS and Aviary businesses incurred a loss of $43,000 in the most recent financial year and have racked up a $995,242 of debt to 70 creditors.

In April, Travis Pullen of insolvency specialist firm B&T Advisory was appointed as the company’s restructuring partner.

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The business is putting forward $199,048 to wipe its near $1 million debt. Picture: Liam Kidston

Adrian Richardson and Liam McMahon launching their new business recently. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Australian companies can go through a small business restructure rather than into liquidation or administration if their debt is less than $1 million.

In the case of the Aviary and BOS restaurants, their debt levels came in under that threshold, just $5000 shy.

Creditors who are owed money from the Aviary Terrace Bar and the BOS steakhouses were offered back 20c for every dollar they were owed, which they accepted.

The business is putting forward $199,048 to wipe its near $1 million debt.

This is payable in three months, with a September deadline.

BOS and Aviary Terrace Bar employ 20 people between them.

The BOS and Aviary hospitality outlets, which were registered under Se7evn Brisbane Pty Ltd, has been a registered company since 2022 and in its first full financial year, it made a profit of $199,000. But things took a turn the following year, from mid 2023 to now.

Mr Richardson only recently became a co-director of the business since February this year.

Mr McMahon had been director since the company’s inception.

News.com.au has contacted both for comment, as well as the restructuring partner of the BOS and Aviary establishments, Mr Pullen.

Mr Richardson runs a number of other restaurants based in Victoria which are unaffected by the restructuring plan, including Geelong steakhouse Maestro, Bouvier Bar in East Brunswick, The Gallery Restaurant at Marvel Stadium and launching a new project called Pasta Bambino.

Adrian Richardson is a TV sensation.

New steakhouse BOS opened on Queen Street in Brisbane City. Picture: Liam Kidston

It comes as earlier this year, a chilling warning revealed that one in every 13 hospitality businesses are facing going bust as the industry grapples with the crippling cost of living crisis.

New data has revealed that the hospitality industry is most vulnerable to current economic conditions as consumers’ disposable income dries up and it’s hit by huge prices increases.

News.com.au has reported on a number of hospitality business failures or troubles over the past six months alone, including high end steakhouses, similar to the BOS group of restaurants, going under.

Hospitality business Good Group Australia, which operated a high-end string of steak restaurants called Botswana Butchery across three Australian cities, ceased trading owing $23 million with 200 staff losing their jobs.

Steakhouse chain Elements Bar & Grill called in administrators in March, impacting its five restaurants.

A number of other hospitality businesses have gone bust in recent weeks.

One of the last pillars of an award-winning Queensland chef Shannon Kellam’s hospitality empire went bust last Friday, just a month after seven other sister venues collapsed. Montrachet is a well known fine-dining French restaurant in the Brisbane suburb of Bowen Hills but called in administrators last week.

Last month, a national salad manufacturing business called HS Fresh Food, which stocked its products in Coles, Woolworths and the IGA among others, went into administration.

In May, popular Sydney restaurant Lucky Kwong, headed by iconic chef Kylie Kwong, announced it was shutting down.

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

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Originally published as Celebrity chef’s new Brisbane steak restaurants owe $1m, months after Melbourne restaurant shuts down