Celebrity chef 'devastated' after third Auckland restaurant collapses

Nic Watt’s upmarket modern Chinese restaurant Cāntīng is Auckland’s latest hospitality casualty – and the third restaurant liquidation for the celebrity chef.

Cāntīng, in Auckland’s Commercial Bay precinct, entered voluntary liquidation today.

Nineteen staff were informed at an 11am meeting.

In a statement, Watt said all wages and leave entitlements had been paid. Cāntīng was shut, but the move did not affect day-to-day operations at his other restaurants, Inca Ponsonby or Masu at SkyCity.

Watt came home to open the latter in 2013, following time at London’s Nobu and Roku restaurants, and featured in the television show Testing the Menu, which followed the chef as he gave New Zealand classics a Japanese twist.

In 2018, Watt’s True Food and Yoga eatery went into liquidation owing more than $2.4 million to creditors and shareholders. In 2023, his Newmarket restaurant Inca closed its doors after just three years in business, owing $1.1m. Staff were furious that they had not been paid everything they were owed, while Watt went on to open a new business.

Cāntīng opened in November 2024, offering what Watt described as “old world Chinese cuisine meets modern Asian innovation”.

Today, Watt said making the decision to close was “incredibly difficult” but he had exhausted all practical options to improve the restaurant’s performance and sustainability.

“I’m devastated to be at this point; however, the reality is the business is no longer viable, and we’ve had to make this tough decision. My priority is supporting our amazing team and working with the appointed liquidators as we move through the process.”

The Herald understands Watt hopes some former Cāntīng staff will be transferred to his other restaurants.

Meanwhile, in response to questions from the Herald, Watt said Inca continues to operate “business as usual under new ownership”.

Documents show he recently sold Inca Ponsonby to a newly formed company (of which he is a director), prior to putting Inca’s parent company, Paperworks Ltd, into liquidation.

“All staff have transferred to the new ownership, and our valued supplier relationships remain in place, ensuring a seamless transition with no interruption to business operations,” he said.

Adam Botterill and Damien Grant of Waterstone Insolvency were appointed liquidators of Paperworks Ltd in June 19. Grant has also been appointed to manage the liquidation process at Cāntīng - the first report on that process was not yet available.

In their first report into Paperworks, the liquidators said the business was sold as a going concern to a related party, with payments due over the following 12 months.

“Prior to the liquidation, [Watt] engaged with the liquidators and expressed a desire for a related company to purchase the assets,” the report said.

“Liquidators did an assessment of the value of the business, obtained an independent valuation of the assets of the business and considered the goodwill.

“After taking into account the trading history, value of the physical assets and the attitude of the landlord, the liquidators sold the business upon liquidation for an agreed price.”

The sale of the business was $92,112.50, according to a statement of affairs.

Botterill and Grant said the company had been affected by “poor trading conditions” and “cashflow restriction that resulted in the accruing debts which the company is unable to satisfy in full”.

They said no preferential claims had yet been received.

“However, we understand that an amount is outstanding to IRD.”

The liquidators estimated the IRD was owed $216,000.

“We estimate there will be sufficient realisable assets to enable a partial distribution to the remaining preferential creditors of the company,” the report said.

The liquidators said the purchaser of the business had assumed liability for staff preferential claims in exchange for a credit against the purchase price.

No secured or unsecured creditor claims had yet been received, according to the report.