Ronnie Di Stasio restaurants face closure over $1 million tax debt

Renowned Melbourne restaurateur Rinaldo “Ronnie” Di Stasio has just days to pay almost $1 million to the Australian Tax Office or face the closure of his CBD establishment Di Stasio Città and flagship St Kilda restaurant Cafe Di Stasio.

Two of Di Stasio’s companies were served with winding-up applications earlier this month and given 21 days to settle the tax debts after allegedly failing to comply with business activity statement provisions, Federal Court documents reveal.

The court action taken by the deputy commissioner of taxation warns the two companies could be found to be insolvent, and a liquidator appointed, if Di Stasio is unable to pay $909,301.

The Di Stasio restaurant empire dates back to 1988 with the opening of its original establishment, Cafe Di Stasio in St Kilda. The brand launched a sleek, modern counterpart, Di Stasio Città, in the CBD in 2019.

The hatted Città – just doors down from Parliament House – is a popular haunt among politicians, lawyers and even underworld figures.

Di Stasio’s Carlton offshoot, which is not the subject of court action, opened in 2021. The pizzeria was also recognised with a hat at this year’s Good Food guide.

The looming court action comes a little over a year after the 70-year-old sold his 32-hectare property in the Yarra Valley for $7 million.

The sprawling vineyard, which featured a three-bedroom residence, was priced down from its initial $10 million asking price after months without a buyer.

The winding-up applications against the two companies – Di Stasio Pty Ltd and Di Stasio Citta Pty Ltd – are due to be heard by the Federal Court on October 31 and November 7, respectively. These companies are the registered holders of liquor licences for the St Kilda and CBD venues.

The ATO is chasing a $200,000 tax debt from the St Kilda venue, while the CBD restaurant has accrued more than $710,000 in debt.

Di Stasio declined to comment while the matter was before the courts but insisted it was “business as usual”.

The ATO’s enforcement action is not Di Stasio’s first brush with authorities.

In 2017, the hospitality figure was ordered to pay $35,000 to staff after the Fair Work Ombudsman found Cafe Di Stasio had repeatedly underpaid and exploited six foreign workers.

The ombudsman’s investigation found Di Stasio had underpaid four chefs and two bar staff between September 2015 and May 2016. Workplace laws governing the keeping of employment records and payslips had also been breached by management.

Five of the workers were in Australia on 417 working holiday visas, with the other employed on a 457 temporary skilled worker visa. Most were from Italy or India, with four of them aged under 24.

A casual chef was found to have been underpaid almost $800 over a 54-hour week, because Di Stasio failed to pay the base hourly rate along with penalty rates for evening and weekend shifts.

Di Stasio agreed to enforceable undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman as an alternative to legal action in the Federal Court.

The ombudsman launched the investigation in 2016 after The Age revealed claims that Di Stasio forced an Italian waitress to pay kickbacks of $500 to the restaurant once a week to keep her work visa, while another foreign worker had only been paid holiday entitlements after taking legal action. Di Stasio and long-time business partner Mallory Wall denied the kickback allegations at the time.

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