After struggling financially, Max Brenner in Portside Wharf Hamilton is now permanently closed along with 19 other stores across Australia.
Due to escalating costs and tighter retail trade, the directors of Max Brenner Australia have resolved to appoint Voluntary Administrators on 30 September 2018. The Voluntary Administrators appointed to the store are Barry Kogan, Kathy Sozou, and Jason Preston.
Despite saying that Max Brenner stores will still operate on a ‘business as usual’ basis in their previous statement, the beloved chocolatier closed 20 of its stores on Monday, 8 October 2018.
The administrators said that they were left with no choice but to close more than half of Max Brenner Australia’s stores. This came on the heels of their store-by-store review of its operations.
Furthermore, staff from the closed locations will be made redundant whilst administrators try to sell or recapitalise the business and keep the remaining stores operating.
| Closed Stores | Remaining Stores |
| 1. Kingston ACT 2. UNSW (Kensington) NSW 3. Wollongong NSW 4. Central Park (Chippendale) NSW 5. Newtown NSW 6. Parramatta NSW 7. Casuarina Darwin NT 8. Gasworks (Newstead) QLD 9. Portside (Hamilton) QLD 10. Milton QLD 11. Townsville QLD 12. Toowoomba QLD 13. Australia Fair (Southport) QLD 14. Rockhampton QLD 15. Coolangatta QLD 16. Carindale QLD 17. Rundle Street (Adelaide) SA 18. Woodgrove (Melton West) VIC 19. Joondalup WA 20. Whitford City (Hillarys) WA |
1. Belconnen ACT 2. Macquarie Centre (Macquarie Park) NSW 3. Narellan NSW 4. Doody Street (Alexandria) NSW 5. Charlestown NSW 6. Blacktown NSW 7. Manly NSW 8. Sydney Tower (Sydney CBD) NSW 9. Tuggerah NSW 10. Bondi Junction NSW 11. Surfers Paradise QLD 12. Robina QLD 13. Southbank (South Brisbane) QLD 14. Queen Victoria (Melbourne) VIC 15. Highpoint (Maribyrnong) VIC 16. Craigieburn VIC 17. Doncaster VIC |
Redundancy
According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, “When an employee’s job is made redundant their employer has to give them redundancy pay, also known as severance pay.”
The amount of redundancy pay the employee gets is based on his or her continuous service with the employer. Continuous service is determined with the length of time they are employed by the business and doesn’t include unpaid leave.
The staff that were made redundant may calculate redundancy pay with Fair Work’s Notice and Redundancy Calculator.
Employees Still Owed Unpaid Wages
Apart from the expected redundancy pay, some of Max Brenner’s employees claim that they are still owed unpaid wages.
In a letter to the employees, the administrators said they are currently checking the calculation of outstanding entitlements. Those who are owed money by the company are considered as creditors.
Creditors may claim their entitlements which may involve any unpaid wages, the accrued leave amounts (annual leave, long service leave), redundancy pay (if applicable), and unpaid superannuation.
Access to these entitlements depends on the outcome of the administration which will be decided at the second meeting of creditors. The first meeting of creditors was held on Thursday, 11 October 2018.