United Petroleum buys Pie Face

Cara Waters
13 April 2017 
The Age

Beleaguered fast food chain Pie Face has been bought by petrol and convenience company United Petroleum.

United announced on Thursday it has acquired the intellectual property and retail network of Pie Face for an undisclosed sum.

Founded in 2003 by former Wall Street banker Wayne Homschek and interior designer Betty Fong, Pie Face had taken on Australia, the US and Singapore. Store openings were planned for the Middle East, Japan, Korea and the Philippines.

But its collapse in 2014 left a trail of destruction behind, with 20 stores closing and 130 part-time employees losing their jobs.

Pie Face went into liquidation and most recently run by receivers and managers Christopher Palmer and Liam Bailey of O’Brien Palmer, who readied the business for sale by getting it close to profitability.

Pie Face has secured debt of $4 million and unsecured debt of under $5 million with employees alone owed more than $1 million. 

“We have made a lot of changes to the business, changed our processes, looked at our supplier agreements and distribution agreements and have been able to cut a lot of costs so the business is much more viable than it was when we first got on board,” Mr Bailey said. “That’s whats attracted United.”

United hopes to leverage its scale of almost 400 retail outlets to help Pie Face grow.

Gary Brinkworth, chief executive of United, said there was “tremendous value” in the Pie Face brand alongside growth potential as a standalone business.

“We took the decision that Pie Face would fit perfectly with our strategy of growing our business and achieving scale by expanding into new categories whilst growing customer numbers and building capability,” he said.

Under the sale agreement, Pie Face CEO Bruce Feodoroff will continue to lead the food chain, ensuring continuity for existing franchisees and staff.

United has also committed to maintaining supply for Pie Face, ensuring “business as usual” for staff employed in the commercial kitchen, franchisees, and head office.

This acquisition provides certainty for staff as many local jobs and small business operators have been protected and staff entitlements have been retained.

Gary Brinkworth

“This acquisition provides certainty for staff as many local jobs and small business operators have been protected and staff entitlements have been retained. United will benefit from retaining this experience and corporate knowledge,” Mr Brinkworth said.

“United is a financially strong Australian business with a strategy in place to ensure Pie Face has a successful future.”

The sale is expected to be finalised shortly, at which point United will provide an update to all key stakeholders.