‘When life gives you lemons … you make lemon juice.’ The former Surfing the Menu host took to social media to announce the news.
Ben O’Donoghue has parted ways with The 203, the star executive chef taking to social media on Saturday morning to announce he’d been made redundant from the Fortitude Valley steakhouse.
In a message to camera posted to his Instagram account, a philosophical O’Donoghue opined that when “life gives you lemons, what do you do? You make lemon juice.”
“Look at this, election day, new beginnings,” he said. “Well there is for me, because yesterday, after three weeks of solid work, paternity leave at work, people with broken feet – so we were a bit short, pulling the hours – I was made redundant.
“I’m not averse to facing adversity and getting on with things, that’s a chef life,” O’Donoghue later continued before joking that he might open a venue called Redundancy Kitchen.
“Do some recipes from home. Hey, I could even plagiarise a few. That seems to be popular,” he said, in reference to the controversy surrounding Brooke Bellamy, who owns Brooki Bakehouse, a Marshall Street neighbour of The 203.
O’Donoghue went on to thank the staff who had worked alongside him since The 203 opened as Establishment 203 in late 2023, before ending the video.
O’Donoghue declined to comment further when this masthead approached him early Monday. Neither The 203 nor owners Stanbroke could make anyone available for comment but a supplied statement characterised the redundancy as a strategic decision.
“For a period, The 203 operated with an executive chef and a head chef, but we’ve now returned to the single role,” read the statement, attributed to The 203 general manager Claire Ritchie. “We sincerely appreciate Ben O’Donoghue’s contributions since our late-2023 opening and wish him well.
“Looking ahead, we’re excited to build on our farm-to-table ethos under the guidance of our existing head chef [Trent Lymn], with new experiences on the horizon.”
The 203 opened as Establishment 203 in December 2023, with O’Donoghue a star signing to lead its innovative kitchen, which mixes woodfire with an expansive MKN induction system. He previously ran his own cafes, Billykart in Annerley (now sold) and Billykart West End (now closed), but has long had a national presence after his work as a presenter on ABC Television’s Surfing the Menu from 2003 to 2006.
The Fortitude Valley restaurant was renamed The 203 late last year after the Federal Court found Establishment 203 infringed the registered trademark for the word Establishment, which is owned by NSW hospitality giant Merivale for its long-running bar in Sydney’s CBD.
O’Donoghue’s redundancy follows the closure of the Stanbroke-owned Peter Augustus butcher shop in New Farm. Peter Augustus’ Camp Hill outlet remains a going concern.
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Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.
