Black Star Pastry: Sad news for popular bakery's Melbourne stores Business was struggling with the cost of living Their stores in Melbourne will close READ MORE: Iconic cake shop closes after 10 years in business By Pranav Harish For Daily Mail Australia Published: 17:05, 13 August 2024 | Updated: 17:12, 13 August 2024 e-mail View comments A popular bakery chain famous for its iconic treat will close its doors in Melbourne due to soaring business costs. Black Star Pastry will close all three of its Melbourne stores - in the CBD, St Kilda and Chadstone - on Sunday. The eatery took to social media to indicate that the difficult decision was made because it was no longer feasible to run the businesses in Victoria.
'Rising costs, a tough economic climate and an industry-wide staffing shortage have forced us to consolidate our team and we will shift our focus to our original home of Sydney ,' the post read. 'For five years, our team have poured their hearts, passion, and creativity into the making of each cake, pastry and coffee served across our stores'. The business thanked customers for supporting the bakery in Melbourne after it first opened up at the Prince Hotel, in St Kilda, in 2019.
The bakery quickly became popular thanks to its world-famous strawberry watermelon cake. 'We had a beautiful journey and many great friendships here and hope to see you one day, soon,' the post ended. Black Star Pastry will close all three stores in Melbourne, St Kilda and Chadstone on Sunday Read More City's 'most glam' cafe is forced to shut down: 'It's not worth battling on again' The move doesn't affect its stores in Sydney, which will 'continue operating as normal'.
Black Star Pastry has stores in the city, Newtown, Rosebery and Chatswood. The business has also opened up pop-up stores in Burwood and Broadway. Black Star Pastry sells more than one million slices of their original cakes every year.
The bakery was first established in Newtown in 2008 by renowned pastry chef Christopher The, who invented the strawberry watermelon cake. The restaurant soon caught the eye of Louis Li, the founder of Victorian luxury accommodation company Jackalope Hotel group. The bakery quickly became popular in Melbourne thanks to their world famous strawberry watermelon cake Mr Li was so impressed by the cake that he decided to take over the business after becoming majority shareholder in 2018.
Th hospitality sector in Australia is continuing to struggle due to inflation and consecutive interest rate rises. Leading Australian business analysis company CreditorWatch has forecast that one in 13 hospitality businesses will fail in the coming year. The bakery took to social media to reveal the difficult decision was made to close their stores in Melbourne because it was no longer feasible to run the businesses in Victoria CreditorWatch chief executive Patrick Coghlan warned conditions will get worse for businesses in the hospitality sector before they get better.
'The outlook for hospitality businesses is not likely to improve until we see a lift in consumer spending,' Mr Coghlan said in a statement. 'That is not going to happen until the impacts of one or two rate cuts filter through to households. We don't anticipate that being felt until at least the second half of next year.
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