A major restaurant group has immediately closed six premises after becoming the latest hotel operator to go bankrupt.
City Winery Brisbane Pty Ltd, based in the Queensland capital, made the difficult decision to enter voluntary liquidation on Wednesday, just five years after opening its first venue.
City Winery in Fortitude Valley and on Edward Street, and Ardo branches in Newstead, Milton, Hawthorne and Graceville have closed with immediate effect.
An unknown number of employees have also been laid off.
Darren Vardy of Insolvency Options Pty Ltd has been appointed as liquidator and will be in touch shortly. creditors.
It is currently unknown how How much money does the business owe?
Chief executive Dave Cush said the decision was heartbreaking, citing a “dramatic drop” in customer spending, the Covid pandemic and the recent opening of the Star casino in Brisbane.
“A dramatic decline in consumer spending driven by the current cost of living and interest rate environment, coupled with increases in labor and operating costs have had too large a cumulative impact on our business,” he said.
City Winery Brisbane Pty Ltd entered voluntary liquidation on Wednesday. Pictured is one of its six venues which have since closed
Six Brisbane locations closed overnight and an unknown number of employees have already been laid off
Mr Cush added that the business never fully recovered from the Covid closures.
However, the final nail in the coffin was The Star Casino opened its doors in Queens’ Wharf last week.
He said City Winery “simply can’t compete with an operation of that scale.”
“To our customers affected by this closure, I offer my sincere apologies and thank you for the years of support you have given us,” Cush added.
‘You’re the reason we kept going as long as we could.’
Darren Vardy of Insolvency Options Pty Ltd has been appointed liquidator and it is unclear how much money the company owed at the time of its closure.
City Winery’s first location was a converted warehouse on Wandoo Street, where customers could attend winemaking masterclasses.
It was Brisbane The first winery in the city centre since 1860 and a Second location opened in CBD soon after.
Further locations also opened on Edward Street and Eagle Street Pier but were forced to close in 2022. when the site was demolished by the developers.
Adro bottle shop and wine bar initially opened in Newstead in 2023 before expanding to Hawthorne, Graceville and Milton in the following months.