On Monday June 9, the ABC reported that All Are Welcome, the popular bakery with locations in Ivanhoe East, Northcote and Thornbury, allegedly owes $243,000 in superannuation and $125,000 in leave entitlements to current and former employees. Co-founder Boris Portnoy declined to confirm these figures to Broadsheet.

The bakery, founded by Portnoy, Mark Free and Aaron Maxwell (Free and Maxwell stepped away from the business in 2021), entered administration in February this year. The company had accrued more than $1 million in debts and owed the ATO $1.4 million, the ABC reports.

Administrators listed All Are Welcome for sale in April. Since then, Portnoy has purchased the business back under a new entity named Landrance, which was registered on Monday April 14 of this year.

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“As part of the business purchase, all outstanding employee entitlements are to be assumed by the new company,” Portnoy wrote in a statement to Broadsheet. “Leave entitlements have been preserved in the new entity and are being paid as staff take leave or [are] paid out when their employment ends. The timing for the payment of the superannuation is being determined by the administrators and we will have a firm timeline after finalisation of the liquidation. Since the administrators took over in February 2025, newly accrued employee entitlements have been paid in full and are up to date.

“I regret the impact this has had on staff, and I remain committed to cooperating fully with the administrators to support the continuation of the business in a manner that prioritises entitlements and obligations.”

Portnoy declined to comment on whether payment timelines had been communicated to current and past employees. He also declined to comment on how he secured the funds to repurchase the company.

Portnoy also closed his Russian- and Georgian-influenced wine bar Gray and Gray on Saturday February 22 this year. Speaking to Broadsheet about the closure on Thursday February 6 – days before liquidators were appointed to All Are Welcome on Tuesday February 11 – Portnoy said he would focus his attention on the bakeries and “opening up a new production facility” for All Are Welcome.