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A popular burger chain has collapsed, forcing more than a dozen stores to close their doors while more than 100 employees lost their jobs.
Getta Burger closed 11 of its stores in southeast Queensland on Thursday after the company was plunged into voluntary liquidation.
It is understood 107 workers were immediately made redundant following the shocking collapse, after six businesses linked to the burger restaurant were forced to close their doors.
Popular burger chain Getta Burger has plunged into voluntary liquidation and 11 stores across south-east Queensland have been forced to close their doors.
The burger chain operated stores in several parts of the growing region, including Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Ipswich and Logan.
Liquidator Ian Currie, of insolvency firm BRI Ferrier, was appointed as liquidator when the stores closed on Thursday.
Mr Currie told Daily Mail Australia the employees were informed on Thursday they were no longer employed.
“There were 11 stores that were closed yesterday and all the employees in those 11 stores unfortunately lost their jobs,” he said.
He said four other stores operated by the company had already gone bankrupt and he had been appointed to oversee the liquidation of seven separate companies associated with the burger chain.
Mr Currie said no other company-operated stores in Australia had been affected at this time.
He said his team was still determining the amount of the company’s debts, including unpaid employee salaries.
“There is a significant amount of unpaid taxes and landlord debts,” Mr Currie said.
“It remains to be seen whether they (employees) will get super… there are about 1.5 quarters of super outstanding.”
Employees must submit their entitlement claims through the Fair Employment Rights Guarantee Scheme to receive unpaid wages, annual leave and superannuation.
Most of the employees laid off since then are considered casual.
Staff must pay unpaid salaries from Monday to Thursday.
Mr Currie said the stores’ operations had ended and they were currently in negotiations to sell the land.
“We are talking to a party who may be interested in acquiring the site… but this is only the beginning,” Mr Currie said.
The company, headquartered in Bulimba in Brisbane’s east, had been in business since 2012.
The company’s two stores located in Townsville were reportedly unaffected by the liquidation.
The chain’s website is still operational, but users cannot search for store locations.
The company’s website is still operational, but users cannot search for store locations.
Two of the company’s stores in Townsville would not be affected by the liquation.
Daily Mail has contacted Brent Poulter, CEO of Getta Burger, for comment.
Mr Poulter, a Brisbane resident, is also a director of the six Getta Burger affiliates which have closed and is also a director of the Townsville stores which are still operating.
The company’s Instagram page, which has more than 22,000 followers, has not been updated since the company’s bankruptcy.
Several diners commented on the burger chain’s most recent post asking about the store’s liquidation, while some expressed sadness over the store’s closure.
“Why are all Getta Burger restaurants in SEQ (South East Queensland) saying they are permanently closed? What happened?’ » asked one user.
“Sad to see them closing and staff losing (their) jobs,” another person posted.
The latest breach in the company’s operations marks a difficult year for Mr Poulter at the helm of the company.
He was forced to close Low n Slow Meat Co, a smokehouse butchery in Morningside, in April after a legal dispute with the local council over the store’s ban on marketing its products to a butchery owned by a multi-million dollar company.
It has also already closed another reception venue.
The latest breach in the company marks a difficult year for Getta Burger CEO Brent Poulter (pictured), who has been forced to close several companies affiliated with the burger chain.