The popular Pialligo Estate restaurant, and its function and associated business at the rural enclave near Canberra Airport, are believed to be in financial trouble.
The restaurant on Kallaroo Road has closed its doors, its website and Facebook page have been taken down, and the business is not answering calls.
The business also includes the Pialligo at the Plot on Beltana Road, which includes a cafe, grocer, event spaces and boutique stores.
A sales assistant at Bisonhome said the cafe and grocer were closed, but the three shops were still trading.
She said that the news came out of the blue.
“I went to get my coffee this morning and the cafe was closed,” she said.
The future of the business, which was hit hard during the pandemic and has suffered two fires in recent years, remains in doubt.
There has been no official announcement or notification, and the owner, prominent Canberra businessman John Russell, is not taking calls, but it is believed a meeting is planned for Sunday.
The Pialligo Estate complex includes the restaurant, outdoor garden, four pavilions for private dining and functions, and an olive grove, vineyard and orchard.
It opened in 2013 and established itself as a foodie and function mecca with diverse ventures and venues.
The business also runs an award-winning smokehouse, which had to be relocated from Hume to Fairbairn after a fire in 2016. Eighteen months later, another fire destroyed the farmhouse restaurant.
The COVID-19 restrictions also devastated the business, as it did many in the Canberra hospitality sector.