MissChu Just Went Into Voluntary Administration
1/3 of Sydney staff are set to lose their jobs. At this point, 2015 can't get any worse.
Less than a month after Pie Face announced it was going into voluntary administration — and with fresh news from The Australian that the restaurant group has been sued for $20m by investor Steve Wynn — comes an even sadder tale for those who like actual proper food.
MissChu, the Vietnamese tuckshop chain founded by the Queen of Rice Paper Rolls, Nahji Chu, is in financial trouble too.
MissChu began as a catering business in 2007, and has since grown to employ over 190 people, after launching a variety of tuckshop locations around Sydney, Melbourne and the UK. According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, financial pressures — including global expansion, and the surprise closure of the Sydney Opera House tuckshop earlier this year — have forced the company into voluntary administration, as MissChu gets ready to lose a third of its Sydney staff.
With the Melbourne and UK businesses remaining unaffected, KordaMentha Restructuring — the appointed administrators — have taken over the day-to-day operations and promise “business as usual”, with a plan to offer the outlet up as a going concern in the first quarter of next year.
If any of you moguls that comprise our readership need an extra incentive to buy up this business, here is Nahji Chu’s wonderful TedX talk from last year.
–
Not only did Nahji Chu give a hilarious, informative, inspiring speech at our Vivid Ideas event this year, but MissChu is my favourite place to eat dumplings, ever.
Nahji Chu and KordaMentha have both been approached for comment on exactly what this means for your summer food plans.