Gourmet grocer and online food retailer The Essential Ingredient has collapsed into administration.
The food supplier, which has been in operation for 38 years, entered voluntary administration on Thursday and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has been brought in to oversee the company.
The Essential Ingredient will continue to trade business while it undertakes a sale process.
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Robert Ditrich from PwC blamed the tough market following the pandemic for the company’s collapse.
“The Essential Ingredient is a long standing and high quality providore in the food services industry. It has faced a challenging economic and operating environment,” Ditrich said.
“The legacy of stock losses during the COVID closure and higher operating costs has all taken a toll on profitability.
“Our aim is to move quickly to preserve the business and as many jobs as possible. We intend to continue trading and sell the business and assets as a going concern, with strong interest expected from prospective buyers.”
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Directors Syd Weddell and Peter Walmsley said they were “enormously disappointed” that they were unable to return the company to pre-COVID profit.
The Essential Ingredient supplies products to the grocery and food service sector in Australia and has three physical stores in Crows Nest, Prahan in Victoria and South Melbourne.
It sells high-end ingredients, cookware, cookbooks and gifts.
Products for the company were used in the TV series Masterchef Australia
Essential Ingredient began in 1986 and was initially a mail-order business which grew into a national retailer.
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