12/09/2025
Hello again everybody 👋
I know a lot of rumours have been circulating around, regarding the butcher shop.
I know rumours are just that, rumours, but one that i have heard that I want to address publicly is this one:
Apparently I took off with all the money and left Luke with the debts and shop etc
Sorry to burst that bubble, but, no, I haven't run off.
Luke and I are strong in our relationship!!
No I haven't left Luke with all the debts. As the business is in my name, so the debts are in fact mine.
Much to some community members disgust...we won't be leaving The Rock, our children go to school here, and we won't be run out of town.
So to dispel some of the rumours I will in fact let the community know now what is happening.
Before we took over we approached the old butcher regarding a lease to own to take over the business. He needed out, but we didnt have the funds to outright purchase the business.
This lease to own was agreed upon, so we began a lease to own contract and rental of the building that at the end of 5 years we would own the business with all the infrastructure(not the building), and also be able to take on another 5 years renting of the building. 10 years sounded great, as that would see our children through school.
Our landlords were very "supportive" people, we were told if we ever needed help to not hesitate to ask. Which was lovely.
When an employee was leaving we knew we would have to pay out holiday pay
Being a fairly newish business, we knew it was going to hurt, so we were given advice to talk to our landlords regarding pausing the "lease to own" payments for a bit and adding it to the end of the 5 year agreement.
We had a meeting with them, and it was agreed that we keep paying the "rent payments" but could halt the "lease to own" payments for a bit. We were asked if we wanted 3 months, we said if we could just go month to month for a bit and see how we go.
Now of course, this was a verbal, sit down over coffee discussion. Stupid us.
Our landlords decided for whatever reason that they wanted to sell the building(they have every right to), we were approached and told that nothing would change, that whomever purchased the building, would take over the "lease agreement). That they would have a new rental agreement written up to reflect the price increase in the "rent" as it had gone up by the CPI amount, which is stated in our contract.
The landlords came to our house and asked that I come out and sign the new rental document, but at the time I had my daughter very sick. They were adamant to my mother that I come out and sign it then and there. My mum stood her ground and advised them to leave it with me.
They then went to Luke and left it with him.
When Luke came home I went through the new rental agreement, and inside it, was a "surrender of lease" document, that offered me $1 in exchange for the surrender of lease, and it was also written on there that we both agreed upon this.
1. I had no idea about this document, so of course did not agree to it.
2. $1 for me to sign the "lease to own" back to them...therefore forfeiting all the money we had paid towards the "lease to own"...except $1, and forfeiting all of the equiptment that we were paying to own.
That was a complete kick in the teeth. We were only worth $1.
If i had signed that document on my front door step, Luke and I would have been out of the shop in October last year.
Because I said no, lawyers became involved because we hadn't made the "lease payments"
Remember that discussion earlier that I said we had....it was now being used against us to say we had broken the contract...again, because our verbal coffee agreement back then was not in writing. Stupid us.
We then had the storm that wiped everything of ours out at the butcher shop. All the Christmas stock etc.
So we then had lawyers to deal with plus insurance to sort out.
On top of the storm loss, dealing with the lease issues....we were also slandered over town....therefore loosing 50% of our customer base.
We have tried since December, to hold on, to get everything under control. But when you have such a loss as the storm, then do not have the usual customer base to cover costs....its near impossible. But still we tried.
We got to the point where we were doing day by day, then order by order.
Now I am not going to say I am perfect, far from it.
I have ADHD, so forget things all the time. I wish I didnt, more than anything. I also to struggle to understand things.
Have we had debts over time...of course...we are a business. Have we struggled some times....again, yes, we are a business. Just before Christmas we had all our supplier accounts paid off. I had a debt for superannuation for the boys, and a couple of farmers who provided us fresh lambs for the shop but after Christmas was our first year of making a profit, so that and other payments such as BAS returns( that I had accidently stuffed up, therefore had to be audited to have it all fixed up, which takes time) etc, we were going to have that all cleared as well, then we would have been okay.
Then all of these things happened.
Not once have we ever said we wouldn't pay our debts. When unfortunate, unexpected events happen, it takes time.
I made all the payments back to our landlords....except the last one....because I didnt realise their was 1 to go.
I thought the 2nd last one was the last one...and was so happy I went in and told Luke. Again....Stupid me.
After nearly 12 months of all of this, loosing the meat trays from the club, and being told by a certain person that she was sick of all the complaints about the meat trays...that is when Luke snapped, then I snapped.
I informed everyone that we needed some mental health days off. Which we have a right to.
Well, that was used against us as not operating the shop how we should have, and taken to the lawyers.
We even tried fighting that.
We loved this town and the people so much.
We loved supporting the footy club and players, decorating the shop in grandfinals etc
But we had to let the sponsorships go, as we lost support from the people we were sponsoring.
Those same people that we loved supporting and seeing in the shop, got excited about the games, bowling tournaments etc....for whatever reason, be it slander, support of certain people...we dont know, stopped shopping with us.
For those of you who have said to keep fighting, take a break and come back stronger, I'm sorry, but we have already tried for nearly 12 months.
We have been beatin into the ground, and then stomped on while down.
My name personally and the business has been slandered into the ground.
And in a small community, that breaks you, and we are broken.
I have not put this out here to be mean, on the contrary. I am putting this on here because I am honest, and fair. And I believe that everyone should be. But every door we knock on gets closed in our faces.
I believe that if my name can be slandered around, then I have every right to defend my name, my business name and my family.
And I dont care who you are in this town, what your "status" is, we are all human.
In small towns you have big fish in small bowls, but what those big fish don't realise is that little fish that come from big bowls, have dealt with sharks.
And I am a mother....so if people are going to do the wrong thing, and that has a domino effect, that then has an impact on my family and children, I will not lay down, I will not keep quiet.
I will fight for the right things and I will not stay silent.
We had until today to abide by their demands, which we can't.
Therefore, today we will be cleaning the shop out, and be gone by midnight tonight.
We just want to thank all of our supportive customers, those who helped us during the storm, those who continued to shop with us regardless of what they heard.
To those same customers...we are sorry we couldn't hold on, we are sorry that we couldn't fight any longer.
Attached is the document that started all this off.
I have blacked out their information for the sake of their privacy, but as our business was such a big part of our community, and the community has wanted answers.
We have to back it up with truth and evidence.
So, i have told you the truth, and here is part of the evidence, without going into more personal evidence between the two parties.
Much love to our customers and again, thank you.
