Celebrity chef to pay only a fraction of creditor debt – ATO not happy

Celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo has done something the Australian Tax Office is not happy about.

Zonfrillo will settle debts incurred by his failed Adelaide restaurants, by paying major creditors between five and 10 cents in the dollar.

The ATO will be forced to accept between about $14,000 and $20,000 to settle a claimed debt of about $203,000.

Zonfrillo ran both the Orana restaurant and the Blackwood Bistro on Rundle Street in Adelaide's CBD.

In October this year he placed both businesses into voluntary administration.

Last Friday, those owed money by the eateries met to contemplate a deed of company arrangement (DOCA) that required Zonfrillo to pay $90,000 to settle his debts.

Creditors include Zonfrillo, his wife Lauren, and their companies. 

Those related entities are owed approximately $1.4 million. That figure equates to more than the combined total owed to all other creditors.

The majority of creditors voting on the deed outvoted the ATO and the restaurants' landlord.

Both the ATO and the landlord asked the chairman of the meeting, administrator David Kidman, to note their opposition to the deed which would see both receive somewhere close to $20,000 instead of the $200,000-$300,000 owed to each.

Both businesses became insolvent in November 2019 according to Mr Kidman, however Orana continued to trade until March this year.

Andrew Knowles, Zonfrillo’s public relations adviser, stated in an email that Zonfrillo "has no further comment, all details on the matter are available in the DOCA."

Irit Jackson - 3 December 2020