The latest restaurant going into liquidation is the Old Town Hong Kong’s eatery on Dixon Street in the heart of Chinatown. It was placed into liquidation on Friday 2 March, along with another business owned by the same directors, Super Dish Chinese Restaurant in the largely Asian southwestern Sydney suburb of Cabramatta.
However, the second Old Town Hong Kong location at Barangaroo on Mercantile Walk, operated under a separate business entity, will continue to trade.
Timothy Cook from Balance Insolvency has been appointed liquidator of both Old Town Pty Ltd and SuperDish Pty Ltd “as the company is unable to pay its debts as and when they fall due”, documents filed with the corporate regulator state.
According to Mr Cook the restaurant directors attribute the failure of his businesses to coronavirus fears, which led to revenue falls of 50 per cent or more.
Parramatta Phoenix, famous for its Yum Cha, was placed into liquidation on the previous week. At the same time, Asian Fusion restaurant Mister Dee’s Kitchen, Darlinghurst, another business owned by Parramatta Phoenix Pty Ltd, was also placed into liquidation.
Phoenix Parramatta closed down Source: Hospitalitymagazine
Parramatta Phoenix is part of the high-profile family-owned Phoenix Restaurant Group.
The western Sydney yum cha staple is the only restaurant in the Phoenix Restaurant Group to collapse, with locations in Zetland, Rhodes, Sydney CBD and Brisbane still trading.
'The director has indicated that one of the factors in the fall in turnover of the restaurants is a reaction to the coronavirus,' voluntary administrator of Parramatta Phoenix Christopher Darin told news.com.au.
Parramatta Phoenix is not the first restaurant to go under after losing customers in the face of the disease, with Shark Fin House closing it's doors in February.
Fighting back tears, Co-owner Gabriel Chan told The Age the business had seen an 80 per cent drop off in customers and they had to lay off 40 permanent staff and 10 casuals.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday said he'd met with Reserve Bank heads to discuss the impact of the coronavirus on the economy.
'This is a health crisis not a financial crisis, but it is a health crisis with very significant economic implications,' Mr Morrison told parliament.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has hinted a providing a stimulus package related to this crisis.
“It will be a targeted plan. It will be a measured plan. It will be a scalable plan. It will be targeted on the real diagnosis of the economic issue we are looking to confront here,” he told reporters today.
