21 November 2017

Freak show over for Petridis duo as Patissez liquidators appointed

| Ian Bushnell
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Pâtissez’s extravagant freak shakes that became a social media sensation.

The freak shake dream has soured for reality TV mother-daughter duo Anna and Gina Petridis, with their company wound up and liquidators appointed.

‘Pâtissez’ was launched in 2015 after their appearance on My Kitchen Rules, with a store opening in Manuka, followed later in the year by a second in Civic.

Their freak shakes whipped up a social media frenzy and in June 2016 with their appetite for success fully whetted, they turned their ambitions overseas, launching stores in Malaysia and Singapore.

But Pâtissez’s growth could not be maintained, with the Holland Village store in Singapore folding and the Civic store closing its doors only a few weeks ago. However, the Pâtissez Uptown store in Malaysia is still open, according to its Facebook page.

An ASIC notice advised that a general meeting of the company held on 1 November had resolved that Patissez Pty Ltd be wound up, with Gregory Stuart Andrews and Andrew Juzva from insolvency firm ‘GS Andrews Advisory’ appointed liquidators.

The Manuka store is still trading as Pâtissez but under new management, with reports the business has been sold.

A spokesperson for Pâtissez described the news as a “sad development, however, the dream and passion will continue.”

And a HerCanberra Facebook comment suggest the pair remain upbeat about their business futures:

“Hey everyone – actually really humbled by the love (& honestly a little surprised lol). It’s been an insane couple of years for us & we definitely bit off more than we could chew! The dream lives on, as does Manuka. There have been MANY mistakes but we gave it a red hot go & learned a lot. Our situation was pretty unique & we certainly got caught up in the madness! We’ve lost a lot & there has been some big heartache but…it’s time to rebuild & we couldn’t be more excited. Keep watching homies…2018’s gonna be a good year!!”

The liquidators were approached for this story.

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John Moulis said :

Short-lived fads are never a basis on which to build a business model. Look at Krispy Kreme. Huge queues outside the stores when they first opened (including at Westfield Woden) but within a few weeks the queues disappeared and a year or so later the shops all closed.

As far as the freakshakes are concerned, the owners of Patissez signed their death warrant when they went on national TV and revealed that the secret ingredient was a jar of Nutella in each shake. Other cafe’s across Australia began duplicating the freakshakes. It reminds me of the Flaming Moe episode of The Simpsons when Homer revealed the secret ingredient in the Flaming Moe and everybody started bringing them out with slightly altered names.

The biggest “short-term-fad-flop” was the pop-up container village by the lake. Given that it was funded by ratepayers without a prospectus I won’t dignify it by referring to it as a “business model”.

Short-lived fads are never a basis on which to build a business model. Look at Krispy Kreme. Huge queues outside the stores when they first opened (including at Westfield Woden) but within a few weeks the queues disappeared and a year or so later the shops all closed.

As far as the freakshakes are concerned, the owners of Patissez signed their death warrant when they went on national TV and revealed that the secret ingredient was a jar of Nutella in each shake. Other cafe’s across Australia began duplicating the freakshakes. It reminds me of the Flaming Moe episode of The Simpsons when Homer revealed the secret ingredient in the Flaming Moe and everybody started bringing them out with slightly altered names.

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