Inner city Invercargill restaurant placed into liquidation
EUNA Limited, which operates on Don St in Invercargill, was placed into liquidation on Tuesday last week, with Emma Laing appointed as the company’s liquidator.
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An inner-city Invercargill restaurant has gone into liquidation in another sign of the immense pressure on hospitality businesses throughout New Zealand.
EUNA Limited, which operates on Don St in Invercargill, was placed into liquidation on Tuesday last week, with Emma Laing appointed as the company’s liquidator.
When the H&J Smith department store closed in 2023, staff from the store’s catering operations opted to open the new EUNA restaurant in Don St at the start of 2024.
Shareholders of EUNA Ltd are listed as Travis Martin and Celia Wilson.
Long hours were spent renovating the Don St property ahead of a “soft opening” on December 31, 2023.
EUNA attracted impressive reviews, including this from Urban List: “Hands-down one of the best restaurants Invercargill has to offer, EUNA is bringing its A-game to the southern dining scene with moreish European fare and impeccable service.”
However, hospitality businesses throughout New Zealand are facing tough financial times at the moment, and Invercargill is not immune to that.
The latest Centrix Credit Indicator showed 414 hospitality firms were placed into liquidation over the past 12 months, up 49% year-on-year. The sector recorded the second-highest number of liquidations behind construction.
At the same time, hospitality businesses were seeking finance at a faster rate than any other sector. Credit enquiries from the industry rose 26% over the past year, ahead of agriculture and other service industries.
Hospitality NZ CEO Kristy Phillips told NewstalkZB the latest impacts are the cost of living and the fuel crisis.
But she said businesses have taken many hits in recent times.
“Liquidations now can be the result of years of hanging on and just trying to wait for those trading conditions to improve.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has stated that the Government is “concerned in general” with the rising number of hospitality closures, after the new data showed company failures across the sector jumped 49% in a year.
“We know we’re going through a very difficult and challenging time,” Luxon said.
“The fuel crisis has led to rising costs for a lot of inputs for many businesses in New Zealand, but also around the world.”
The food and service were fantastic, easily worthy of two or three Michelin stars. Even mentioned everything here 6 months ago.
Sadly, perhaps Invercargill just isn't ready for service at that level. Maybe the restaurant wasn't, maybe the customers weren't, or maybe both.
People would turn up dressed like they were doing a late-night milk run. Honestly, if you want the full "track pants and hoodie" experience, there's a McDonald's down the road. No reservation required. Guess saying come back in shirt shoes and trousers would be to hard if punta has to drive to gore.
The other thing was the birthday routine. After my wife mentioned it was my birthday, I jokingly said, "Please don't do one of those happy birthday song-and-dance numbers." Never for a second did I think they actually would.
They did. My wife found it a giggle and told me not to be stuffy , I am known for not being stuffy.
The last two times we went, there were birthday songs everywhere. It felt less like fine dining and more like Chuck E. Cheese five minutes before a fight breaks out. Even Chuck E cheese closed
What puzzles me is that we'd been several times before and the place was always packed. So what changed? I honestly don't know.
It's a real shame. In my view, it offered a genuinely excellent dining experience in a town where the culinary highlights often seem to be deciding between McDonald's and KFC.
A huge loss. Loved dining there. Excellent food and service.