Forlorn attempt to sell eatery for $1 reserve

‘‘We have lost all our money.’’

Bianca Xiang

Owner of Chilli House BBQ

An Auckland business owner says she has no choice but to sell the family restaurant for $1 on Trade Me because of Covid-19.

Bianca Xiang said her restaurant, Chilli House BBQ, on the North Shore, was badly affected by the pandemic.

‘‘We have lost all our money. There is nothing wrong with the restaurant. It is a beautiful restaurant – we spent $300,000 renovating it. But we have not been able to operate it because of Covid-19.’’

After two failed attempts at selling the business on Trade Me, Xiang said she felt like she had no choice but to sell it for $1.

‘‘We don’t care about the price any more; we have been trying to sell it for two months.

‘‘We just want someone to run the business.’’

Her husband and co-owner has been overseas with family for more than five months, which made it even harder for Xiang to operate the business, she said.

The Xiangs bought the restaurant last year, but during alert level 4 earlier this year they had to let staff go. ‘‘We can’t run it any more because we have not had any income to pay the rent.’’

Yesterday, the Trade Me listing had 17 bids, reaching $103, with three days remaining.

The 164-square-metre restaurant seats about 70 people and has a fully equipped commercial kitchen. It has a four-year lease and a monthly rent of about $7000 plus GST. Xiang said two months of rent relief was available.

A recent Hospitality New Zealand survey revealed that in Auckland 16 per cent of hospitality businesses were considering permanently closing their business, compared with 10.7 per cent for the rest of the country.

Last week, Hospitality NZ chief executive Julie White said the level 2 and 2.5 extension announced earlier this month could push some businesses to the ‘‘brink of collapse’’.