Heston Blumenthal’s namesake restaurants run through complex web of tax havens
Heston Blumenthal’s international restaurant empire has been accused of underpaying staff at its fine-dining restaurant in Melbourne while funnelling its earnings through a series of offshore tax havens.
A Fairfax investigation led by The Sunday Age and The Sun-Herald has uncovered the group's extensive use of tax havens, including the Caribbean island of Nevis, where foreign companies pay zero tax on their worldwide earnings.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at Crown on Melbourne’s Southbank is owned by Tipsy Cake Pty Ltd, which is registered and incorporated through a post office box and office suite on Nevis. It is linked to Morning Star Holdings, Nevis's oldest registered agent, which was mentioned hundreds of times in a huge leak of millions of documents about offshore tax havens described in detail in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Paradise Papers.
Tipsy Cake’s directors are based on the tax haven of the Isle of Man, and shares directors with its ultimate owner Lowenthal Corporation, also based on Isle of Man. Fat Duck and the group's other UK restaurants are routed through a separate Nevis-based company and are also ultimately owned by Lowenthal Corporation.
Since it opened in Australia in 2015, corporate records show that Dinner by Heston Blumenthal has been loss-making and has paid no company tax despite having a turnover of $15million in 2017. Instead it posted a loss of $308,526 after paying "joint venture fees” of $733,584. In 2016, "joint venture fees" of about $800,000 were recorded as revenue, not as an expense. Parent company Tipsy Cake also benefitted from an interest-free loan of $750,000 from Crown Melbourne,
While those at the top of the group’s hierarchy are doing everything they can to minimise their tax obligation, leaked rosters have revealed that chefs at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal regularly work 25 hours of unpaid overtime weekly bring their hourly pay down to as little as $15 to $17 an hour, well under the award minimum.
A Dinner by Heston Blumenthal spokeswoman said the company is undertaking a "thorough review’’ and would address any underpayment issues immediately if uncovered.
Sheridan Randall, 10th December 2018
