Ruling on eatery feud

WARRING owners of a popular Gold Coast restaurant have been told to “co-exist” harmoniously until one buys the other out, following allegations one director kept JobKeeper payments and allowed a bikie club to meet at the venue.

The Queensland Supreme Court order came after longtime Saltwater at Currumbin owner Monique Maree McDowall applied for the compulsory transfer of her co-director Lauren June Mitchell’s 50 per cent share in the business.

The court made the transfer order in December last year and compelled the parties to co-exist in a “harmonious, business-like constructive and manner” pending the transfer.

Mitchell must also resign as a director of the company after McDowall buys her shares.

In an affidavit lodged in court, McDowall alleged Mitchell, who was also employed as the front-of-house manager, failed to balance the till daily, transferred JobKeeper payments into her own account and allowed bikies to hold a club meeting at the venue in 2019.

Three customers approached her at the neighbouring cafe and claimed there was “a gathering of bikies in the function room of the restaurant”, it was alleged in the court documents.

“When I saw the (Mitchell) that afternoon she approached me and said she was sorry but did not know that (the person) who organised it had done so on the basis that there was to be a chapter meeting of the bikies concerned,” the affidavit said.

Court documents said McDowall, who also runs Cafe by the Bridge, was introduced to Mitchell in 2016 after being told she was “interested in getting into the restaurant business”.

Mitchell and McDowall became directors and equal shareholders of a company that bought the eatery in October 2018.

McDowall claimed Mitchell later breached their shareholder agreement by “storing cash takings in her wallet”.

She said in her affidavit that by March 2019 she “started to become concerned about how (Mitchell) was conducting the restaurant” after noticing staff were taking cash and putting it into the till without ringing up sale-for-alcohol purchases

She claimed she approached Mitchell at the time and the issue was “resolved amicably”. “Subsequent to the conversation regarding daily reconciliation of the takings not being performed, I observed that the daily reconciliations that were performed balanced to the cent every day,” she said, adding this was “highly unusual”.

The affidavit alleged McDowall in July 2020 discovered the company’s wages account did not balance and JobKeeper payments were paid into Mitchell’s account, instead of to staff.

The staff were later repaid, McDowall’s affidavit claimed.

She lodged the court application after she allegedly arrived at the restaurant on November 30 last year to find the locks had been changed and she was unable to get documents required by an auditor.

She also claimed Mitchell was “incompetent, or untrustworthy or both and that her conduct had a serious effect upon the company”.

When contacted by the Bulletin, Mitchell denied all allegations but said Saltwater was her “pride and joy”.

McDowall said: “I don’t think anyone enters a business partnership with the intention of it failing … however I’m optimistic both myself and Lauren will move forward and hopefully both learn from this experience.”