After $200,000 acquisition, rebooted Providoor offers big discounts for $4.4 million in unused vouchers

The new iteration of Providoor has confirmed that it will be offering percentage discounts to former customers sitting on $4.4 million worth of outstanding vouchers. And in a SmartCompany exclusive, it has also revealed that it purchased the brand – which achieved more than $74 million in revenue at its height – for only $200,000.

Providoor announces discounts for voucher holders

Providoor CEO Sam Benjamin announced the discounts during a webinar on Thursday evening. Former Providoor customers who had contacted the new business about outstanding vouchers were invited to join the webinar.

“This will be an opportunity for us to introduce ourselves, learn more about your expectations, and discuss how we can together, address your concerns,” the November 7 email read.

This step came several weeks after the relaunch of the business, which now delivers ready-to-eat (Providoor Local) and frozen meals (Providoor Frozen) designed by celebrity chefs.

The original brand was launched by chef Shane Delia during COVID-19 to help keep high-end restaurants afloat during lockdowns.

Despite reporting $74 million in revenue in 2022, it went into liquidation earlier this year, citing changed economic conditions. It left behind a long line of creditors, including customers holding gift cards to the tune of $4.4 million.

During the webinar, Benjamin said it wouldn’t be financially possible for the company to honour the full amount owed.

“This isn’t something we are able to transact on,” Benjamin said.

“The only thing we can offer is discounts — which we won’t do in the future, we don’t do discounts. Discounts don’t make us money, but we don’t lose money on them.”

Instead, Providoor will be offering voucher holders 30% discounts on orders over $100 and 50% discount on orders over $300. The business confirmed that these discounts will apply only to its frozen meals — not the hot meal service it also offers.

Throughout the course of the webinar, Benjamin addressed all questions from former customers, repeatedly explaining how the discounts would work and that the new business was separate from the original Providoor.

Benjamin also took the time to navigate unfiltered comments from customers ranging from supportive to outright nasty, with one expressing they hoped “you too go bankrupt and frankly die”.

The Providoor brand cost $200,000

New Providoor owner and CEO, Sam Benjamin, during the webinar.

Benjamin’s team acquired the brand back in April after it was handed to liquidators by May 1. According to Benjamin, the team had been planning this business under a different name for three years. Ultimately, they decided to take a punt on relaunching the Providoor brand under a new business model.

During the webinar, he revealed that the cost of the purchase was just $200,000, which included the social media accounts, domains and customer database.

“We paid $200,000 for this brand that I think at its core had a good DNA.”

When asked why Benjamin bought the brand given the issues, he said he was a customer who loved the brand and what it did to help restaurants during COVID-19 lockdowns.

“But somewhere along the line they fucked it up,” Benjamin said in acknowledgement to the voucher holders.

“I was in love with the brand and I wanted to continue it. It could be a good decision or a dumb decision.”

The purchase did not include any of its liabilities, meaning the new business isn’t responsible for anything owed to creditors of the former business. This includes voucher holders.

But according to Benjamin, he and the new Providoor team wanted to be transparent and earn back customer trust.

“I don’t do webinars and I’ve been told that I probably shouldn’t be doing this. I don’t agree with that. I think it is important. I think if I was in your shoes, I’d want someone to tell me the truth,” Benjamin said.

Benjamin apologised for what had happened to the customers, saying it was “shit.” He also stated that one of his businesses had been in a similar position when grocery delivery service, SEND, went into voluntary administration back. in 2022.

“It hurt us a lot. I’m sorry this is happening,” Benjamin said.

“We mean well as a team. We’re here and we’re trying really hard.

“I hope we can be forgiven for something we didn’t do.”

There’s no way to verify who is entitled to the discounts

Benjamin didn’t give an exact date as to when the discounts would be available, but asked customers in the webinar to give them a few days to sort the situation out. A Providoor representative has since confirmed with SmartCompany that more announcements would come next week.

While Benjamin was aware of the outstanding gift cards when purchasing the brand — which included its customer database — there was no visibility on the details of gift card holders or the expiry dates.

“We didn’t get any information about who the voucher holders were. If we did we would have been proactive” Benjamin said.

“Not everybody… reached out to the liquidators. So it was an absolute mess,” Benjamin said.

“[The liquidators ]weren’t able to prove… who’s owed what as well.”

This lack of visibility means there is no way for the business to identify who is entitled to the discounts and therefore no real way to control the situation.

“This is an honour system. If you just hop on and say you have a voucher we’ll do the 30% off on orders greater than $100 or the 50% off for a $300 order.”

Benjamin went on to ask customers to try and use this offer in the next month “if possible”.

“Because it could really hurt us as a business ongoing.”

Benjamin said that Providoor will send information regarding discounts to all customers soon.

“That’s for those that have vouchers but we’ve got no way of knowing that,” Benjamin admitted.

“You’ll simply be given a code or something. Something’s going to be worked out in the next day or two.”