Cairns Aquarium restaurant goes into liquidation
AquaLuna Restaurant in Cairns is closing after just 18 months. Speaking to the Cairns Post, AquaLuna Restaurant owner Gordon Kean said he had “lost everything”.
Kean sold his stake in L’Unico Trattoria Italiano at Trinity Beach to fund what he had previously called a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sign a 20-year lease with Cairns Aquarium. In retrospect he concedes he was not prepared for the challenge.
AquaLuna opened in September 2017 as a joint venture between Kean and fellow restaurant owners Jarrod Donkin and Matt Turner. However, the two other parties “got out early” leaving Kean to run the business on his own for the last nine months.
“It’s very different being on the beach and dealing with locals than being in town,” he said.
“It’s very competitive in town and you have to be really good.
“But at the end of the day I don’t think the food was good enough and the service was good enough.”
Sheridan Randall, 24th January 2019
