That’s how long it took a plucky young chef from the Melbourne suburbs to build one of the most successful hospitality empires in Australia, alongside a lucrative media career.
It took a little over six months for George Calombaris to lose it all, with confirmation yesterday that Made Establishment has entered voluntary administration.
Filming is under way on the new season of long-running reality series MasterChef, without him at the helm after Network 10 abandoned contract renegotiations late last year.
And at the weekend, it emerged that Calombaris has been forced to list his Toorak mansion for sale, hinting at financial pressures both personally and professionally.
Now, news.com.au has been given exclusive insight from well-placed sources into how the business – hugely successful until very recently – fell apart so quickly and so spectacularly.
In 2017, rich-lister and entrepreneur Radek Sali bought into the Calombaris empire and brought with him a wealth of experience in business.
A routine audit and the implementation of more sophisticated accounting processes were what first uncovered something was very wrong with the payroll system.
Although, as one source revealed, “system” is a fairly generous term.
“Imagine…