One of Sydney’s most iconic eateries – Golden Century Seafood Restaurant – has gone into administration with the owners blaming the ongoing impact of COVID-19 shutdowns and a lease dispute.
Chifley Advisory has been appointed administrator of the institution in the heart of Sydney’s Chinatown and a meeting of creditors will be held on August 27.
Golden Century owners Eric and Linda Wong, and son Billy.Credit:Christopher Pearce
Calls and emails to the restaurant on Thursday evening went unanswered and a notice on its website says the restaurant is temporarily closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
A notice published by ASIC said the company went into administration on August 17.
Administrator Desmond Teng said the primary reason the restaurant has entered voluntary administration was due its long-term lease coming to an end on August 31.
“Golden Century owners have exhausted all options to negotiate a commercial agreement for rent reduction,” he said.
“And secondly the business hasn’t been trading at full capacity for a long time now [due to COVID-19] and they were technically making losses.”
Mr Teng said the majority of creditors were staff members and all entitlements would be paid in full.
“A vote will be held for either a deed of company arrangement or for the company to go into liquidation, which is unlikely,” he said.
