Close friend of Married At First Sight favourite Katie Johnstone defends her over claims she was not paying staff properly at her Queensland restaurants

A close friend of Married At First Sight star Katie Johnstone has jumped to her defence over accusations she was engaging in questionable business practices.

Katie’s best friend Farina Bibi shared a clip to social media in which she dismissed claims the reality star was not paying staff properly at her Queensland restaurants.

The ‘social enterprise’ business helmed by Katie has debts of nearly half a million dollars, including unpaid superannuation to its employees.

Documents from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) show Wild The Lifestyle Co Pty Ltd – directed by Katie – was placed into liquidation on June 28 last year.

Bibi insisted all of Katie’s business practices were above board, saying: ‘I’ve been a close friend of Katie for over 10 years… my kids work for her at EATS.

‘I want to address some of the rumours floating around about her being a bad boss and her business troubles. You’re all only getting one side of the story.’

She added Katie wasn’t allowed to publicly comment on the story under her MAFS contract so she would be clearing the air about what actually happened.

‘The reason why there were superannuation underpayments is she actually tried super hard to not let staff go during Covid because she was worried about them,’ Bibi explained.

‘The Katie I know is so kind and caring. She kept on more people than she needed or could afford because that is what the Australian Government’s JobKeeper program was supposed to help with.’

Bibi added a problem occurred when Katie discovered that despite being able to pay her staff with the JobKeeper Covid subsidy, she was still responsible for their superannuation.

‘Unfortunately the conditions of the program were not well communicated to employers. Katie lost out big time because she was still responsible for the super payments for all those extra people she had kept on,’ Bibi said. 

She finished by saying Katie was paying her staff well above the award wage and was a decent and honest employer. 

‘My son is paid well. Australian’s have a bad habit of kicking people when they are down when we should be supporting them. So get your facts straight,’ she concluded. 

On MAFS last week, Katie described her job.

‘I am the CEO of a social enterprise group of restaurants which split our profits helping others who are doing it tough and help them with emergency food and housing,’ she said.

Katie’s best friend Farina Bibi shared a clip to social media in which she dismissed claims the reality star was not paying staff properly at her Queensland restaurants 

Bibi claimed all of Katie’s business practices were above board

The group, known as EATS, has several restaurants in southeast Queensland and Wild the Lifestyle Co was the business responsible for two Sunshine Coast locations in Eumundi and Sunshine Plaza.

Katie is not accused of any wrongdoing and EATS, which stands for Empowering All Through Support, is still operating despite the collapse of Wild the Lifestyle Co business. 

According to the liquidator’s report, the company owed $493,927 when it collapsed.

Unpaid superannuation accounted for $150,709, while $190,980 was owed to the tax office and $141,174 was owed to Mercedes Benz Financial Services relating to loans for two cars – a 2020 Mercedes Benz GLE300D and a 2017 Mercedes-Benz SLC200.

Following the liquidation, EATS Eumundi was sold to the company EATS Nambour Pty Ltd, also owned by Katie, while EATS Sunshine Plaza closed its doors.

Katie said she intended to repay the money.

‘The repayment plan is in place and being maintained. Covid ruined a lot of businesses and continues to ruin people’s lives as we struggle with cost of living and mass business closures,’ she told The Sunshine Coast Daily. 

The group still operates restaurants at Carindale, Kawana and Pacific Fair along with the Eumundi location.

Katie was a finalist in the 2021 Young Business Woman of the Year Awards held by the Sunshine Coast Women’s Business Network.

A year earlier in 2020, Katie revealed her devastation after discovering her Sunshine Coast restaurant had been robbed during Covid lockdowns, with thieves making off with iPads and cash. 

She was paired on MAFS this year with Tim Gromie, but they did not hit it off and he complained to a producer he wanted to be matched with someone ‘petite and blonde’.