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A fast food restaurant that served tower burgers has collapsed due to lockdowns and now a cost of living crisis – with diners blamed for Australia’s inflation challenge.
Gorilla Grill in Melbourne went into liquidation this week after almost a decade serving Maribyrnong customers.
The restaurant served a King Kong burger with two beef patties and bacon, or a custom King Kong burger with three beef patties and pork belly.
It was so popular that it had 10,000 followers on Facebook, with its menu also including kimchi fries, barbecue ribs and tacos.
Insolvency rates in Australia are almost double those of a year ago, but the Reserve Bank continues to blame restaurants for high consumer prices.
Liquidator Jeremy Abeyratne, who is also a director of APL Insolvency, said the small business was the victim of Melbourne’s world record 262-day lockdown and then a sharp rise in inflation.
“The explanation they’ve largely given is that pretty much since Covid started they’ve been struggling,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
A fast food restaurant that served tower burgers has collapsed due to lockdowns and now a cost of living crisis – as diners are blamed for Australia’s inflation challenge
Gorilla Grill in Melbourne went into liquidation this week after almost a decade serving Maribyrnong customers
“They kind of held on during Covid – it basically started hitting and things just started getting worse.”
Mr Abeyratne said the company, officially known as TVD Pty Ltd after owner Tuong Dinh, hired him after he struggled to pay $200,000 in debt.
“They probably held out longer than they should have,” he said.
“They have reached a point where this cannot continue.
“There’s a big Covid hangover.
“They’re not unusual in that regard, we’ve seen a lot of cases with that kind of explanation.”
Gorilla Grill, a husband and wife business, employed mainly casual workers and did not owe its staff salaries, after closing its doors in April.
The cost of living crisis has caused a rise in business bankruptcies, with Australian Securities and Investments Commission data revealing 906 bankruptcies in October 2023, almost double the 473 companies in external administration in October 2022.
Mr Abeyratne, a chartered accountant who has worked in the insolvency field since 2000, said demand for his services had increased in 2023.
The Reserve Bank this month raised interest rates for the 13th time in 18 months, taking the cash rate to a 12-year high of 4.35 per cent.
“Coming out of there, you have inflation that is just more difficult,” Mr. Abeyratne said.
“You have to deal with your debts and if a company can’t pay you speak to a liquidator.”
New Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock on Wednesday evening blamed spending on services, such as dining out, for Australia’s cost of living crisis, with inflation still too high at 5.4 percent.
After New Zealand, Australia has the highest inflation rate in the OECD, even as borrowers face the most severe monetary tightening since 1989.
Liquidator Jeremy Abeyratne, who is also a director of APL Insolvency, said the small business had been a victim of Melbourne’s world record 262-day lockdown, followed by a sharp rise in inflation.
New Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock on Wednesday evening blamed spending on services, such as dining out, for Australia’s cost of living crisis, with inflation still too high at 5.4 percent.
“Inflation is driven by domestic demand…increasingly supported by services,” Ms Bullock said.
“Hairdressers and dentists, restaurants, sports and other recreational activities: the prices of all these services are increasing sharply.
“This reflects national economic conditions and indicates that aggregate demand is sufficiently greater than aggregate supply to support these price increases.”
Ms Bullock earned $828,313 as deputy governor and would now enjoy a pay package of $1.1 million, based on the salary with super of her predecessor Philip Lowe.