Tap And Go Ltd had operated the Grain & Grape establishment in the small township of Darfield.
The New Zealand Companies Office lists Murray Davie and Bernadette Taylor as directors and equal shareholders of Tap And Go.
A previous company owned by the business partners, Kick for Touch Ltd, went into liquidation in 2023, after a Rolleston bar and restaurant struggled through Covid-19 restrictions.
Mr Davie, 69, is a former All Black who made the national team for the 1983 tour of England and Scotland and also represented New Zealand in water polo, while Ms Taylor has a hospitality background.
Tap And Go was formed by them in 2022.
Insolvency Matters insolvency practitioner Brenton Hunt was appointed the liquidator on September 18 after an initial meeting with directors in July.
In the liquidator’s first report released on Monday he found the company was unable to pay its debts.
He said the company was placed into voluntary liquidation immediately after the business was sold.
“The business was sold at a level that should have been able to pay [the] majority of creditors, but for various reasons the sale price was reduced leaving a shortfall to creditors.”
In the report he said the company bank account held modest funds with a small amount of inventory, as well as plant and equipment, sold during the business sale.
Initial investigations did not indicate an overdrawn shareholder account, he said.
Of the total estimated shortfall, unsecured creditors are due about $250,000, Inland Revenue about $190,000 and staff are owed $17,000.
Mr Hunt said a director had undertaken to personally pay the staff debt for unpaid wages and holiday pay.
“Subject to further verification, the liquidator estimates that there will be no funds available to unsecured creditors. However, this will depend on the progress of the liquidation,” Mr Hunt said.
More than 20 other creditors include ACC and cleaning, legal, accounting, waste, energy, telecommunications and music businesses.
