An epic falling out between two former friends over who owned a charcoal chicken shop ended up in court after one of them accepted $100,000 for the store’s sale before ‘brazenly’ repossessing it.
Simon Munzer opened the Paradise Charcoal Chicken shop in Mount Druitt in Sydney’s west in 2008 before selling it 14 years later to his old friend Fouad Bachour for $100,000 in August 2022.
Mr Bachour later paid a further $7,500 for stock and started paying suppliers and staff wages.
‘The landlord was asked to assign the lease to [Bachour]. The business’ suppliers were notified of a change of ownership,’ Justice Kelly Rees said in her decision.
The pair also signed a seven-page written heads of agreement ratifying the sale in September 2022.
But by mid-October Mr Munzer’s lawyer, who prepared the sale agreement, wrote to Mr Bachour to say his client ‘doesn’t want to sell the business’.
He proposed a different agreement where he would lease the business to another interested party for five years because he ‘didn’t want to lose the business for good’, the NSW Supreme Court decision stated.
Mr Munzer told Mr Bachour: ‘I only sold it to you because I needed the cash for my house’.
‘I want the business back, and then I intend to licence it out for five years only. Are you willing to sell…?’
Mr Bachour declined, saying that it was not his business to sell anymore.
Despite this, an email was sent to the landlord from the shop’s shared address to ‘disregard the lease transfer’.
On 31 October, staff shortages meant that Mr Bachour did not open the shop.
‘However, Mr Bachour received a text message from his son, who told him that the business was open,’ the judgment noted.
‘Mr Bachour called the police and reported that someone had broken into the shop.’
Staff at the shop told Mr Bachour that Mr Munzer had opened it for them.
Mr Munzer apologised told police, ‘I have reflected on things further and I’m just not willing to let the business go. I built it up over years and it’s mine. I’ve decided to cancel the sale’, the judgment noted.
Mr Munzer told police that he had ‘reflected on things further and I’m just not willing to let the business go. I built it up over years and it’s mine. I’ve decided to cancel the sale.’
No arrests were made.
After shutting shop for the day, Mr Bachour locked the doors with a chain.
‘The next morning, when Mr Bachour attended the premises, the chain and lock lay broken on the floor,’ the judgment noted.
Mr Munzer later employed a security company to keep his former friend away and ran the shop as if it was still his for the next two years.
Mr Bachour launched legal proceedings in that time.
Ultimately, Justice Rees agreed with Mr Bachour, finding that ‘Mr Munzer changed his mind and brazenly re-took possession of the Mt Druitt shop’.
‘Mr Munzer sold the business to his long-time friend for $100,000, as he was in need of funds,’ she ruled.
‘But Mr Munzer changed his mind and, quite audaciously, re-took possession of the shop. The only person who was exploited in this matter was Mr Bachour.’
Justice Rees found that the original written agreement to sell the shop was ‘valid and binding contract’ and ordered Mr Munzer to follow its terms.
The amount of damages owed by Mr Munzer will be decided at a later date.