Wagamama Australia goes into liquidation as all stores close
The Australian arm of UK-based Japanese noodle franchise Wagamama has entered liquidation and all of its Australian outlets are now closed, just under a year after collapsing into voluntary administration.
Nathan Landrey of FTI Consulting was appointed as liquidator of parent company Edible Concept Holdings on September 25, after Stephen Vaughan and Ian Hall of KPMG were appointed as administrators in October 2013.
The first Wagamama store opened in Australia in 2002. At its peak, Wagamama operated as many as 10 restaurants in Australia and it featured on the BRW Fast 100 in multiple years.
It is unclear how many Wagamama stores were still operating this year, although the Wagamama restaurant at Melbourne’s Southbank closed shortly after KPMG took over, with Hall telling Fairfax at the timethe store was not profitable.
According to details available from former Edible Concept Holdings chief executive Mark Rowland on LinkedIn, the Australian Wagamama restaurants were at one stage turning over more than $25 million per annum.
This month, Wagamama customers took to the chain’s Facebook page to ask why their local restaurants had closed without warning, with claims the stores in Subiaco and Carrindale were quietly closed.
Wagamama Australia responded on September 18 to say all of its stores have now closed.
“We are disappointed to inform you that we have recently closed all of our Wagamama restaurants in Australia,” said the company.
“We are currently looking for a new franchise partner and we’re hoping that some of our restaurants will be re-opening soon. We will keep you updated as soon as we have any news to share.”
Earlier this month Edible Concepts Holdings said it was seeking buyers for its stores, with Business Spectator reportingthe company was “in talks with a number of potential buyers and other restaurant operators, both within Australia and offshore”.
Former owner and operator of Wagamama Australia Stewart Koziora told SmartCompany it is "sad to see" to decline of the business he helped bring to Australia.
While Koziora, who is the commerical director and co-founder of Smart50 business Retail Savvy Group, said he cannot comment on the current state of the Wagamama Australia business as he has not been involved with the chain for around 10 years, he says when he left the company it was "very profitable".
"At the time there were six sites and myself and my partner Luke Fryer owned and operated all of them," says Koziora.
"Our first venture was located next door to Cargo Bat at King St Wharf in Sydney."
SmartCompany contacted FTI Consulting but did not receive a response prior to publication.
Wagamama was founded in London in 1992 and currently operates in 17 countries, including Australia. According to the Wagamama website, the chain has more than 100 restaurants in the United Kingdom.
Source : Smart Company 30 September 2014, Eloise Keating
