The Gordon Ramsay-backed Maze restaurant and bar located in the Melbourne Crown Metropol has been placed into liquidation, although it continues to trade according to liquidators HLB Mann Judd.
It is understood the restaurant has collapsed owing $4.6 million to local suppliers. It comes after Ramsay, who has built a multi-million dollar empire through his various media outlets, has suffered a number of restaurant collapses over the past few years.
Ramsay has broken ties with two other Maze restaurants in both Prague and Cape Town, along with ceasing other business ventures including La Noisette and Connaught in London.
Ramsay himself told The Sunday Times two years ago that accounting firm KPMG was brought in to help save the company.
HLB Mann Judd partner Clyde White told SmartCompany this morning the Maze restaurant was placed into liquidation on August 19, but could not reveal the status of its investigations and whether the business will be sustainable in the long-term. However, White confirmed it still continues to trade.
“At the moment, we’re conducting investigations, and we really haven’t got any more information. The main issue is that the restaurant continues to trade.”
The status of Maze’s solvency has been in question for some time, after Fairfax reported in April the business was under duress. However, at that time Gordon Ramsay Holdings stated the business continued to remain profitable.
Gordon Ramsay Holdings remains the largest creditor. However, the liquidation of the company comes after a troublesome few years.
Restaurants in several major cities including London and Paris have been forced to close, while his company is suffering under millions of debt. Last year he took back control of the business from father-in-law Chris Hutcheson, and actually launched legal action against him earlier this month.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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