Burger chain collapses, 107 jobs go

Liquidator Ian Currie, from BRI Ferrier, told news.com.au: “I’ve been appointed to seven companies in the group that had 11 trading stores as of yesterday morning. All have now been closed and the staff terminated.”

He added that four stores were also closed prior to the business being put into liquidation on November 23 and that 107 staff members have lost their jobs, who he said were mainly casuals.

The 14 Getta Burger stores that have closed, either due to the liquidation or prior to it are in the Brisbane suburbs of Ashgrove, Underwood, Capalaba, Clayfield, Cannon Hill, Victoria Point, West End, Bridgeman Downs and Carina, along with five stores in the outer Brisbane metropolitan area in North Lakes, Springfield Lakes, Holmview, Yamanto and Yatala.

Mr Currie said wages had been paid up until last Sunday, November 19, with staff only owed wages from the past few days, along with any annual leave and redundancy payments that may be owing.

He added that his investigations so far had revealed that superannuation had not been paid for the previous quarter, “but everything else is supposedly up-to-date”.

Mr Currie is still determining the financial position of the seven companies in the group, but said that payments to suppliers also seemed to be “relatively up-to-date”.

However, he told news.com.au that the chain owed around $500,000 in payroll tax to the Queensland Revenue Office and said: “I believe there are other tax debts”.

Mr Currie added that lease liabilities to the landlords who own the 14 locations the chain had traded from would be “one of the other large liabilities”.

He said that from his understanding of the situation, the chain had failed due to higher food costs and lower sales.

“Food costs have gone up considerably and people have stopped spending on takeaway food, especially where the stores are,” which he described as the mortgage belt populated by young families.

Less than two weeks ago, Getta Burger was still posting to Instagram, where it has 22,000 followers.

Fans of the chain took to social media to ask questions about its fate, after noticing store closures.

“Why are all the Ghetta Burger (sic) joints in SEQ say they are permanently closed? What happened?” one customer wrote.

“What happened to getaburger (sic),” wrote another.

“Did you guys just yeet all your staff?” a third customer asked.

According to its website, Getta Burger was founded by Brent and Amy Poulter and had been trading since 2014.

The couple owns several hospitality business and began running a food truck as their first foray into small business before starting chain Getta Burger.

Earlier this year another of their hospitality ventures, a smokehouse butcher shop, Low n Slow Meat Co in Brisbane’s Morningside, shut down after a spat with the local council.

The Poulter’s have been contacted by news.com.au for comment.