Australia chain Sushi Bay sinks as last restaurant liquidates amid serious workplace allegations

A once-popular restaurant chain has ceased to exist as of Monday after its last remaining store was ordered to go into liquidation.

A once-popular restaurant chain has ceased to exist as of Monday after its last remaining store was ordered to go into liquidation.

Last month, news.com.au reported that national company Sushi Bay was quietly collapsing, with four out of its five remaining stores being subject to winding up orders in court.

On Monday, Sushi Bay’s Northern Territory store in Darwin, the last one standing, also went under.

The Deputy Commissioner of Taxation began winding-up proceedings against the Sushi Bay network and multiple restaurants have fallen in quick succession.

These stores spanned across three states and territories – NSW, the ACT and the Northern Territory.

At its peak, the company had a number of stores across Sydney, including in Miranda, Rhodes, Penrith, Rouse Hill, Parramatta, Carlingford, Charlestown, Glendale and Campbelltown. It also had two stores outside Sydney in Shellharbour and Forster, as well as a Canberra and Darwin store.

The Fair Work Ombudsman was pursuing the company over breaches of the Fair Work Act, as well as personally pursuing the owner and sole director, for allegedly underpaying 163 workers $650,000 over a number of years.

Christopher Palmer of insolvency firm O’Brien Palmer is the appointed liquidator of all the restaurants.

The company owed hundreds of thousands of dollars to back pay in staff.

Sushi Bay’s Miranda store, in Sydney’s south, which was registered under the name Auskobay Pty Ltd, was ordered into liquidation in February.

Then Sushi Bay’s Campbelltown store, trading under Sushi Bay Pty Ltd and is considered its main store, went bust in mid-March, while its Canberra restaurant collapsed at the end of that month.

Then late last month, on April 21, Auskoja Pty Ltd, which was trading as Sushi Bay Forster, Sushi Bay Glendale, Sushi Bay Charlestown and Hinata Charlestown, also was forced to shut its doors for good.

Finally, this week, Sushi Bay NT also liquidated.

All stores except the Northern Territory one were part of the Fair Work investigation, which is examining allegations the hospitality business and its sole director, Yi Jeong ‘Rebecca’ Shin, engaged in massive underpayment of employees.

The regulator alleged last year that the companies underpaid 163 workers the amount of $656,141 between February 2016 and January 2020.

Fair Work claimed most of the staff were Korean nationals on student, working holiday or 457 skilled worker visas. Many were under the age of 25 and worked as cooks, kitchen attendants and in customer service roles.

“It is also alleged that some workers were subjected to a cashback arrangement and that records were falsified,” Fair Work stated.

In 2019, Fair Work penalised the companies and Ms Shin $124,000 for “deliberately” underpaying workers in another legal case.

“It is alleged that the systemic and repeated nature of the conduct means that some of the breaches are ‘serious contraventions’ under the Protecting Vulnerable workers laws, and therefore attract ten-times the maximum penalties that would ordinarily apply, up to $630,000 per contravention,” Fair Work said in regards to its most recent investigation.

Workers allegedly received flat cash rates of between $14 and $17 an hour for overtime, despite being entitled to rates of between $25.94 and $48.24 an hour for overtime work.

News.com.au contacted Sushi Bay for comment.

Sushi Bay has now gone under.

The appointed liquidator, Mr Palmer, previously told news.com.au that Sushi Bay’s main company, based in Campbelltown, owes about $1.5 million in tax payments and $155,000 to trade creditors.

There were also related party debts of $250,000.

Eleven employees will be impacted by its closure.

The venue’s landlord is also understood to be owed money.

It’s possible creditors might receive some money back, with Mr Palmer telling news.com.au there was still some cash in the bank.

He is also considering whether to sell the business.

Originally published as Australia chain Sushi Bay sinks as last restaurant liquidates amid serious workplace allegations