Staff at Jo Seagar’s cafe feel ‘betrayed’
Jo Seagar’s former staff members say they feel ‘‘used’’ and ‘‘betrayed’’ by the celebrity chef and her husband, Ross.
The staff, who worked in the North Canterbury cafe, Seagars at Oxford, do not want to be named. They say between them, they are owed thousands of dollars in unpaid holiday pay and employer KiwiSaver contributions.
Winslow Trading Company, the firm that operated Seagars at Oxford, was placed into liquidation last month owing $1.6 million.
The first report from Auckland liquidators Deloitte showed the company reported having just $2000 in the bank when it closed and at least 56 creditors – the vast majority unsecured.
Unsecured creditors were owed $1.48m and secured creditors were owed $195,000.
The Seagars were co-directors of Winslow.
The former staff members said there was no meeting to tell employees the business was going into liquidation.
‘‘Some of us received a phone call the day before, others got a text message.’’
One staff member said she had worked for the Seagars for two years.
She had not heard from Jo Seagar since the business folded.
‘‘It just makes me feel like she isn’t interested – it hurts actually.’’
The staff members said they raised the issue of holiday pay and KiwiSaver debts repeatedly and were told ‘‘the money just wasn’t available’’.
‘‘I called the IRD to check on my KiwiSaver balance and was told [my employer] had not been paying my KiwiSaver contributions, I asked Ross and he said it was a little box he had failed to tick and it would be sorted,’’ one staff member said.
The staff members said that as unsecured creditors there was a risk they would not see any of their money.
Some of them saw the Seagars enter their former trading premises and remove items in the days after the liquidators took over.
Ross Seagar said liquidators were aware of any items removed.
The building at 78 Main St in Oxford – which houses the cafe, cook school and B&B – is owned by Ballymena Holdings Ltd.
The company is listed as a creditor in the report and alleges it is owed $58,000 in unpaid rent and council rates.
Torlesse Wines, which is also listed as a creditor, has been chasing an unpaid debt since July 2014.
Manager Kym Raynor believed Jo Seagar’s public comments – labelling unpaid debts ‘‘ fiddly bits’’ – made her sound ‘‘ flippant’’.
‘‘Any outstanding debt is important to a small business,’’ Raynor said.
The Seagars said they could not comment on individual creditors and amounts owed because it was the liquidator’s responsibility.
When asked if he had any regrets about the way he had handled the process, Ross Seagar said: ‘‘I’ve never been in this situation before – I’m not sure what the usual process is.’’