Hope Island restaurants collapse amid court battles

Three well-known Hope Island eateries — New York New York, Manhattan on Hope and Tiffany’s Cafe and Cocktails – have shut down without warning.

And the Australian Taxation Office is taking the company behind the eateries to court. The ATO lodged a winding-up application last month.

The records show the restaurants are owned by Pacific Holdings Vanuatu Pty Ltd and the sole director is Jo-Anne Crestani, the partner of noted 64-year-old businessman Randall McFie.

The registered address for the company is a mansion at Knightsbridge Parade, Sovereign Island, owned by Mr McFie. He sold that in January for $3.3 million.

The Gold Coast Bulletin approached Mr McFie and asked if it could talk to owner of the business, to which he replied: “That’s me.”

The newspaper photographed him him cleaning out the restaurants at the Hope Island Shopping Centre yesterday.

He has declined to speak further to the paper.

Staff, who arrived at work on Monday to closed doors despite normal trading on Sunday night were told to have the day off. They found out at a staff meeting the next day that they had lost their jobs.

The three restaurants had been on the market for more than a $1 million each.

A buyer was found for Manhattan on Hope but the Gold Coast Bulletin reported that the buyer had pulled out after rumours began to circulate about the restaurant’s financial position.

Administrator Roland Robson, of Robson Cotter Insolvency, said the eateries closed because business was not coming in.  “The company hadn’t been trading well for quite a while like most businesses on the Gold Coast, particularly in the hospitality sector,” Mr Robson told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

Mr Robson said the administration and closures were not connected to the ATO’s court hearing.

The amount the company owes creditors is not known at this stage. All is expected to become clear in the next few days.

“I have only been there since Monday dealing with staff and the premises,” Mr Robson told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

Leon Gettler - 20th April 2018