George Calombaris' food empire will be liquidated leaving 200 small business with nothing

George Calombaris' restaurant empire will be liquidated completely, leaving 200 small business empty handed.

Administrators managed to sell five of Made Establishment’s 12 restaurants but had given up on offloading the rest and would likely just close them. 

The Commonwealth Bank got 12 per cent of it’s the $8.8 million it was owed and the 400 employees who lost their jobs received $1.3million.

But that left nothing for the other creditors which includes dozens of dozens of small food suppliers and 200 small businesses who were owned money from Made Establishment.

Victorian producer Fresh Generation was the sole fruit and vegetable supplier for all of Made Establishment. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Fresh Generation boss Gerry Katiforis said the amount of money they have lost “is excruciating”.

The company lost $125,000 and forced the family business to lay off several staff as a result.

“Our industry has extremely small margins,” he said. “A bag of cucumbers we might make 11 per cent on, we have to sell a hell of a lot of cucumbers to make this back. So it has a massive impact on a business like ours.”

The report by administrators KordaMentha showed Made Establishment hadn't been profitable since 2017, with Hellenic Republic and Jimmy Grants chains among the worst performing.

Katiforis told Daily Mail Australia he had known the celebrity chef since he was an apprentice. 

“I'm disappointed to find out now that for the past two-and-a-half years the business wasn't really doing anything at but we were given the impression it was flying high,” he said.

“We put our trust in them, on a handshake, and now we're here.

“They asked us to extend credit again and again when they knew they were already in trouble. That they did that... is not the most honest and fair practice.”

Sheridan Randall, 19^th March 2020d