Jock Zonfrillo was in the early stages of planning a new restaurant and had begun work on a cookbook prior to his shock death, Daily Mail Australia can reveal.
The star chef was hoping to open a sandwich bar before he was tragically found dead at Zagame’s House on Melbourne’s famed Lygon Street in the early hours of Monday.
He had researched potential locations for the restaurant and come up with new recipes for his cookbook, which was being developed with the support of Simon and Schuster.
The publishing house also collaborated with Zonfrillo on his successful memoir, Last Shot, in 2021, which chronicled his battle with addiction and his rise to the top of the culinary industry.
Zonfrillo was constantly sharing recipes on his Instagram account, sparking a frenzy among his fans to try them at home and report back to him.
Zonfrillo was constantly sharing recipes on his Instagram account, sparking a frenzy among his fans to try them at home and report back to him
He learned everything from roasting the perfect potato to oysters and roasted peri peri chicken.
It’s unclear if these were the recipes he was preparing to share in his cookbook, or what stage he was at in the process.
The impending projects kept Zonfrillo busy, in addition to filming his popular Network Ten program, MasterChef, which was set to air just hours after his death was publicly announced.
The future of the show is currently up in the air.
Zonfrillo had no restaurants at the time of his death having had to close three of them in the past five years.
Opened in 2013, his restaurant Orana was once regarded as the pinnacle of Australian cuisine and was named the best in the country in 2019, but both the beginning and the end were much less glamorous.
Zonfrillo first got a job in a kitchen at the age of 12. In 2017, he was Australia’s most popular chef and his restaurant Orana won awards around the world
He had researched potential locations for the restaurant and come up with new recipes for his cookbook, which was being developed with the support of Simon and Schuster.
Not a single dinner came on opening night, despite glowing reviews from critics a week earlier. Zonfrillo needed it to be a success. He had just enough money to pay the fixed costs for two weeks.
“It was so expensive to run,” he wrote in his memoir. “I had a huge amount of credit cards that I kept maxing out – whatever it took to keep the restaurant going until the Australian people realized what we were trying to do.”
At the time, he was out of a job as a chef at Penfolds and was well respected in the culinary scene.
Despite losing $360,000 in that first year, 2014 saw the tide turn and bookings started pouring in — until Covid hit.
Orana was the first to bring indigenous ingredients to the gastronomic scene and gained international acclaim.
Downstairs, under the restaurant, he launched Bistro Blackwood, a more casual eatery.
Opened in 2013, his restaurant Orana was once considered the pinnacle of Australian cuisine and was voted the best in the country in 2019, but both the beginning and the end were much less glamorous
Not a single dinner came on opening night, despite glowing reviews from critics a week earlier. Zonfrillo needed it to be a success. He had just enough money to pay the fixed costs for two weeks
He launched a casual food truck called Nonna Mallozzi, after his Italian nonna in 2018, serving pasta, chips and paninis in a blue van parked between a barbershop and a bar. Soon after, it moved to a permanent space in Rundle Street, just down the street from its other two locations.
As his career outside the kitchen continued to strengthen, Zonfrillo’s businesses struggled.
Nonna Mallozzi closed less than seven months after opening, in July 2019. Signs on the venue’s windows showed that the tenant was $8,700 in arrears on rent. The company posted a loss of $140,000 during that time.
Bistro Blackwood closed its doors in December 2019 and within months Covid had hit, temporarily closing Orana.
Downstairs, under the restaurant, he launched Bistro Blackwood, a more casual eatery
He launched a casual food truck called Nonna Mallozzi, after his Italian nonna in 2018, serving pasta, chips and paninis in a blue van parked between a barbershop and a bar. Soon after, it moved to a permanent space in Rundle Street, just down the street from its other two locations
Zonfrillo said in his memoir that he “checked the numbers with looming lockdowns and realized that even if we could reopen in a few months, we would have to sell out every meeting at every service to break even.”
“Obviously that wasn’t going to happen for a long time.”
He and his staff had no idea how long it would take for the pandemic to pass, but operating on such tight margins to begin with made it unsustainable to stay afloat.
“The decision to close was heartbreaking,” he said.
“It was really emotional. It felt like a funeral to have to close the place. Everything we had fought for had been a battle; nothing about that place had ever been easy, and this was the hardest thing we ever had to do.”
It is clear that the company owed about $1.4 million but settled for about $90,000. Creditors included Zonfrillo and his wife, Lauren Fried.
Zonfrillo’s tragic death is not being treated as suspicious by Melbourne police.
Ten boss Beverley McGarvey said in a statement: “This is a terribly sad day for the family and friends of Jock, his colleagues at Network 10 and Endemol Shine Australia.”
Network Ten is in talks about whether or not to keep the entire series in light of Jock Zonfrillo’s tragic death