Three George Calombaris restaurants sell as fate of other venues hangs in the balance

Three restaurants from George Calombaris' collapsed food empire have found new owners, but the fate of the remaining nine venues still remains unclear.

Administrators KordaMentha announced the sale of assets and new leases for the Hellenic Republic restaurants in Brunswick and Brighton and Vita Ristorante in Kew.

Administrator Craig Shepard said there had been a strong interest in the venues.

"We would like to acknowledge the speed with which these purchasers and landlords have engaged with us to enable these transactions to have occurred," he said.

While the new owners are said to be contacting former employees of the restaurants to discuss new job opportunities, staff from the remaining venues are still in limbo.

Staff were back paid $7.8 million in wages and superannuation in 2017. All the 400 or so staff have been paid to date, except for leave entitlements which can only be paid after the sale of assets, according to administrators who say there is no money left at all on the balance sheet.

Sheridan Randall, 20^th February 2020