Five Criniti’s restaurants to be axed as administrators move in

Five venues in the failed Italian restaurant chain Criniti’s will be closed as the administrators work out the future of the business.

The venues in Manly, Wollongong, Kirrawee, Brisbane and Perth will be closed in an effort to keep the remaining venues afloat in the long term, according to Cosimo Criniti.

Speaking to NewsLocal, the head of the Criniti family said the stores being axed were “losing money”.

“The successful restaurants were having to support the underperforming stores, so our successful stores will now be able to grow,” he said.

The stores in Parramatta, Wetherill Park, Castle Hill, Darling Harbour and Woolloomooloo remain open so far.

“We let the underpinning stores run for a while but that was too much,” Criniti told NewsLocal.

“The other Sydney stores will continue in a big way.”

Frank Criniti and his then-wife Rima opened the first store in Parramatta in 2003. Rima Criniti left the business six years ago, while last year Frank Criniti was disqualified from managing companies for five years by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission for his involvement in seven failed companies not related to his restaurants.

Sheridan Randall, 25^th November 2019