Popular fast food restaurant closes

Wendy’s makes it a lot harder to stick to your summer diet. The fast food chain has announced that from Friday, April 19, it will give away a free order of fries with every purchase via the app. The promotion will be repeated every Friday until the end of the year.

A sign adorns the door of the store in Newtown, in Sydney’s west, showing the store is no longer operating.

“Please note that the landlord has repossessed the property,” the sign reads.

“Any forced entry will be considered a violation and reported to local authorities.”

The Lord of the Fries Newtown store was the only remaining location in the state. There are several stores in South Australia, Queensland and Victoria that are still operating.

Lord of the Fries is known for its completely vegan menu, which offers customers plant-based fast food favorites such as burgers, hot dogs, fries, nuggets and mac-n-cheese balls.

But the closure of the Sydney store could be temporary, according to Amanda Leigh Walker, co-founder and head of operations at Lord of the Fries.

“We are in negotiations with the landlord… trying to figure out if it is worth letting it go or letting it go,” she wrote on social media.

News.com.au contacted Lord of the Fries for comment.

But like its namesake, the company has faced a battle for survival in recent years in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent cost-of-living crisis.

Before the pandemic, Lord of the Fries operated about 27 outlets and was set to open another 40, but those plans had to be drastically put on hold.

In 2020, the very first Lord of the Fries store, located in Melbourne’s CBD on the corner of Elizabeth Street and Flinders Street, closed its doors forever in what was dubbed the end of an era.

Then came another blow. Lord of the Fries Property, a crucial leasing vehicle for franchisees, collapsed in 2022 with debts of $2 million. The majority of the debts were owed to landlords.

At the time, Lord of the Fries co-founder Mark Koronczyk said the Covid-19 lockdowns in Victoria and NSW had dealt a huge blow to his chain.

“The impact of Covid has been huge on many of our stores, as it has been across the sector,” he told The Herald Sun in 2022.

Just three months ago, the master franchisor of the company’s New Zealand arm, Bruce Craig, announced his intention to sell.

He has expanded the franchise to six stores in New Zealand and told local publisher The Post he wanted to sell it all for NZ$1.2 million (A$1.1 million).

“We’ve had a tough few years like everyone else, and we’ve worked hard to keep the doors open,” Craig said.

“It’s not like it’s been a hugely profitable business, but we have a feeling it will happen soon as the tide is turning and people are coming back to their workplaces.”

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Hospitality venues across Australia are also finding it difficult to stay in business.

Just this week, news.com.au reported that a restaurant chain spanning three Australian states, Botswana Butchery, had gone bankrupt with debts of more than $20 million. The trustees recommend liquidating the companies.

Last month, Asian fusion restaurant Gingerboy closed after 18 years in business, blaming “market pressure since Covid lockdowns”.

News.com.au also spoke to a hospitality industry insider who said he was deciding whether to liquidate his business in the next 48 hours because things were so dire.

A number of other restaurants have joined the growing pile of bodies, including Japanese chain Sushi Bay, Elements Bar and Grill and three stores in Sydney restaurant franchise Bondi Pizza.

Late last year, the arm of major Victorian catering company Legacy Hospitality Group went bankrupt with debts of more than $1.7 million.

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