#PERTH’S tough hospitality sector; Trustee Bar and Bistro has administrators appointed to company

PERTH’S tough hospitality sector has claimed another high-profile victim, with administrators being put into celebrated chef Scott Taylor’s Trustee bar and restaurant in Brookfield Place on St Georges Terrace in the CBD.

Administrators from Cor Cordis were appointed on Monday to the company behind the Trustee and the Beaufort Street Merchant in Mt Lawley.

The Trustee will continue to trade while Cor Cordis explores a sale or a restructuring. The future of the Beaufort Street Merchant is more uncertain.

The administration reflects an increasingly tough environment for Perth’s accomplished restaurants, with operators saying low revenues, weak margins and high labour costs are making it difficult to turn sustainable profits.

It is believed more than 5000 covers have been added to the Perth restaurant scene in the past two years alone, despite still fragile consumer confidence and cautious spending by householders.

A number of posh restaurants have opted to close or convert to casual dining. They include the flagship Print Hall restaurant in Brookfield Place, with owners Colonial Leisure Group reopening the venue recently as the Gazette Osteria.

MORE: Trustee Bar and Bistro has administrators appointed to company | Perth Now