Under the terms of the sale,Benjamin isn’t liable to repay the thousands of voucher holders left in the lurch. But during Providoor’s relaunch on October 23,the company stated they would“make right as best as we can”, instructing former customers to emailgiftcardsenquiries@providoor.com.au.
In an interview withGood Foodon Wednesday,Benjamin said he “can’t honour the gift cards dollar for dollar”,given their value far outstripped the “couple of hundred thousand dollars” paid to acquire the failing company.
“It’s not my fault,I had nothing to do with it …[but] I’ve been in my head for months,thinking,‘How do we best[address] it?’” he said.
“It’s a big challenge,but we always want to be open and transparent about it. I don’t know what to do,and I think it’s OK to say that.”
Beyond the financial difficulty,Benjamin claimed it was “impossible to verify the gift cards” without hiring additional staff to undertake a lengthy investigation into more than 30,000 transactions.
“That’s just not doable.”
Moreover,Benjamin said the change in business model (from partnering with independent restaurants to provide meal kits,to preparing its own ready-made meals within in-house commercial kitchens) would present additional challenges.
The entrepreneur does,however,want to acknowledge customers’ loss through a gesture of goodwill. Benjamin said there have been talks of heavy discounts,community events,and sample packs of the new Providoor product. An announcement is expected later this week.
Melbourne chef and restaurateur Shane Delia co-founded Providoor in mid-2020. It partnered with some of Australia’s top restaurants to deliver more than 1 million high-end meal kits to homes in Victoria,NSW and Queensland.
The service provided an at-home restaurant experience to a locked-down population,while financially supporting the hospitality industry through an especially challenging period. In a statement,Delia said the service remained popular after restrictions lifted,but shuttered after losing the confidence of a key investor.
“It was such an honourable brand with such a great customer base,but they didn’t understand the market[after lockdowns ended],” Benjamin says.
“When people started going back into restaurants,they tried to keep doing the same thing,and that didn’t work.”
Benjamin hopes torevive the company by enlisting a team of former My Kitchen Rules and Masterchef contestants and judges to create a range of high-end frozen and fresh ready-made meals,delivered via apps like UberEats.