A hospitality empire ends: Damian Griffiths sells his Doughnut Time business

Facing personal bankruptcy and a fresh Supreme Court suit claiming a debt of $400,000, former lawyer Damian Griffiths has sold his Doughnut Time empire to the company’s former CEO and managing director Dan Strachotta.

With almost half of the chain’s remaining stores shuttered, the sale saves the empire from being put out of business.

But many staff have lost their jobs and in Sydney, just one store will remain open, in Newtown. In Brisbane two stores, South Bank and Clayfield, will keep running while in the Gold Coast Mermaid Beach's store will remain open for business. In Melbourne, the Degraves Street, Fitzroy and Chapel Street outlets will be the last left.

Griffiths is now left without any business following a disastrous run of legal action.

He lost control of Limes Hotel and Alfred & Constance (and A&C’s on-site restaurants, Alf’s Place and Kwan Bros) in December because of unpaid debts. Then his Bubbles Bar and Bistro company went into liquidation in February. This came after he had sold Les Bubbles the restaurant as a going concern to Strachotta. Les Bubbles continues to trade under Strachotta’s ownership. However, the Alfred & Constance business has struggled in the hands of receivers, who have elected not to open Kwan Bros and Alf’s Place. In February, 35 Doughnut Time workers across 15 stores took the company to Fair Work, alleging they were collectively owed more than $70,000 in pay. And then there was the $404,000 lawsuit filed in the Supreme Court by Frasers Property, landlords of Central Park Mall in Chippendale, claiming a breach of contract. Frasers is chasing alleged unpaid rent after Doughnut Time walked away from its store at the centre.

It’s a sad end to a business which at one stage had more than 30 stores in Australia and the UK, employing over 500 people. 

Griffiths said he was selling the remaining Doughnut Time stores because he had “lost the energy to fight.”

“Sadly it means job losses but I could no longer afford to pay,” Griffiths told Broadsheet.

“I am accepting the blame, I expanded too quickly. I guess I had too many big ideas and dreams when I started the development of Limes [Hotel], [Alfred & Constance] and then expanded Doughnut Time around Australia.”