Melbourne chocolate business Ernest Hillier has been placed in administration after more than 100 years of making confectionery.
The company was established in Sydney’s Pitt Street in 1914 and is believed to have been Australia’s first chocolate maker.
The company survived the Great Depression, which saw chocolate sales plummet, and relocated to Melbourne where it became an institution.
The North Coburg-based business was sold last year for $11 million to British company Re Capital, which invests in stressed firms.
The administrators are the ones that have got access to the financial records of the company and the noises that they’re making seems that there’s no need for panic at the moment.
The move was welcomed by union officials who said the new owners planned to rapidly expand the workforce from 80 employees to a possible 120.
But this week the owners placed the chocolate company into voluntary administration and a creditors meeting has been proposed for next week.
Tim Piper, the Australian Industry Group’s principal advocate for the confectionery industry, said Re Capital had struggled to turn Ernest Hillier’s fortunes around.
“Hillier’s is right in the middle of the market, they’re competing against the bigger companies that are…