A popular fish and chip shop near Orewa Beach in Auckland has gone into liquidation, leaving more than $300,000 in unpaid tax debt and all 14 employees out of work.
According to a report by Stuff, Orewa Beach Fish and Chips Ltd, the company behind the beachfront takeaway store on Hibiscus Coast Highway, was placed into liquidation on April 8. The business had operated since 2021 after taking over a previously vacant site opposite the beach.
Former owner and sole shareholder Mark Huxford had shared his vision for the store on its website after launching the business in 2020.
“Because there’s nothing like hot chips and fresh fish, and a perfectly cooked and seasoned chip is one of the truest joys in life,” Stuff has quoted.
According to the first liquidator’s report from Blacklock Rose Ltd, the company owes a total of $441,615. The largest debt is to Inland Revenue, which is owed $308,000. The report also lists $104,000 owed to unsecured creditors and $23,000 to former employees.
The company’s assets have not yet been disclosed.
Although the takeaway outlet was still operating at the time liquidation began, all staff were later made redundant. Liquidators said they had interviewed Huxford and “obtained details pertaining to the operation of the business,” Stuff has quoted.
The report also noted that the company bank account had been frozen and was overdrawn.
Since entering liquidation, the business has been sold by the liquidators.
Attempts to contact Huxford for comment were unsuccessful.
Calls to the store currently play a recorded message stating the shop would remain closed until Friday, April 17, “while we make some changes and tend to some maintenance issues in the shop, resulting from the recent storm,” as quoted by Stuff.
The same statement appears in the latest post on the store’s Facebook page.
ISSUE
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