Speculation grows as more Sydney venues go under

With voluntary administration spreading through hospitality faster than the duck confit craze of 2002, exactly who is looking to pick up the assets of a casualty list that includes the giant Keystone Group, Eagle Boys and Jones the Grocer?

The ultra expansive Urban Purveyor Group is no doubt casting an eye, and Merivale's Justin Hemmes tells Good Food he's still open to pulling out the chequebook if something catches his eye.

"But we're pretty busy right now. We're opening [a restaurant and bar] on Oxford Street the first week of September, and the chicken shop in November. Enmore [The Queen Vic] will be mid to late September," he says.

Rumours Hemmes had cooled on Coogee Pavilion's more upmarket second floor restaurant are off the money. "We'll start designing soon. It'll open late next year."