A popular chicken shop in Sydney’s northwest has collapsed into liquidation over an $8,000 debt.
Baulkham Hills takeaway Hillbilly’s Crispy Chicken, which is owned by chef Eric Tay, failed after All Business Accounting Solutions obtained a court order to have it placed into liquidation.
Liquidator Troy Graham, from Taylor Insolvency, said a dispute that ran for months over a financial advice bill of about $5,000 had led to a legal process that was now set to cost close to $8,000.
“I can only see the reason for this company going into liquidation, as the result of a dispute with a creditor who has unpaid bills,” Mr Graham told Daily Mail Australia.
“The director didn’t have the financial means to be able to fund a defence in court, it is really sad.”
“The cost of winding the company up appears to be more than the principal debt that was owed to the creditor.”
Mr Graham added that initial investigations showed the company did not owe any rent or staff wages.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr Tay trained former MasterChef judge George Calombaris during the late 1990s.
“I’m an entrepreneur I started out in the hospitality industry as a qualified chef, working in Scotland, New Zealand, Channel Islands UK, Melbourne and Sydney Australia,” his profile reads.
“I was a senior chef above George Calombaris at the Sofitel in Melbourne.”
Mr Tay’s LinkedIn profile shows that he previously owned a cafe called Tay’s Epicurean in the central western NSW town of Oberon, and ran food trucks in Bella Visa and Oran Park in Sydney’s northwest and outer southwest, before opening Hillbilly’s in November 2019.
The menu offered burgers with three beef patties and southern fried chicken burgers with maple bacon and blue cheese, among other unique combos.
Just five days ago, the takeaway shop posted to Instagram about one of their specials called The Sticky Hoof – a fried chicken burger with salad, French goat’s cheese drizzled with Manuka honey and topped with spicy pineapple chutney.
On November 2, the company posted a message to social media reading: “Hillbilly’s will be closed until further notice”, adding: “As soon as we figure out our next steps we will let you all know” in response to comments from customers.
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“Hope you guys all right and everything gets better soon,” one customer wrote.
“Hope everyone and everything is okay,” wrote another.
Know more or have a similar story? | michelle.bowes@news.com.au
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