19 hours ago
All Are Welcome bakeries shut three Melbourne locations with staff entitlements unpaid
Three popular inner-Melbourne bakeries have closed their doors for good on Sunday, with questions about more than a quarter of a million dollars in superannuation owed to staff up in the air.
All Are Welcome bakery, which has shops in Northcote, Ivanhoe East and Thornbury, first started in 2016 and recently employed 61 people.
The company entered voluntary administration in February this year with more than $1 million in debt, but company director Boris Portnoy subsequently bought the business back under a different entity in an attempt to continue on.
The ABC reported in recent days on documents showing staff were owed $243,000 in superannuation and $125,000 in leave entitlements.
Mr Portnoy told the ABC he decided to shut up shop this weekend for good after being locked out of the Northcote shop on Friday.
He did not comment on what the future might hold for staff waiting for superannuation and leave entitlements, but said he would try to "minimise any harm" as part of a "journey to unwind everything".
"This is not a top-down 'big bad boss versus staff who don't have any say'," Mr Portnoy said.
"I want to take responsibility for what has happened as far as entitlements.
Frustrated former staff members have told the ABC anonymously they were missing months' worth of superannuation payments, amounting to thousands of dollars.
Mr Portnoy said the bakeries had "cemented ourselves in our neighbourhoods".
"We've had staff [who] have been with us for five years," he said.
"We've gone through COVID with everybody. We were able to support the community and the community has supported us during these times."
The ABC contacted administrator Hamilton Murphy for comment.
