Discount supermarket chain NQR, owned by the founders of the Baker's Delight chain, has gone into voluntary administration putting 351 jobs at risk unless a buyer is found.
NQR, which has 18 stores across Victoria, appointed Luke Targett and Bruno Secatore from Cor Cordis as administrators on Wednesday.
Mr Targett said stores will continue to trade as normal while the business is put up for sale as a going concern.
"Most of the stores are profitable and making a contribution; there's a couple that we're going to have to have a look at, but that's all part of assessing the business," he said.
"I believe there's a solid profitable core business there and that's what we're trying to get to the bottom of."
Mr Targett said it was too early to say what went wrong with the business.
NQR, or Not Quite Right, which undercuts other grocery chains by selling products that have been over stocked, had their packing changed, or are close to their best before dates, went into administration in 2009 but was rescued by its former owners Ken Nienaber and Baker's Delight co-founder Roger Gillespie.
Mr Gillespie and his wife Lesley started Baker's Delight in 1980, and grew the chain to more than 700 outlets across Australia, Canada, the United States and New Zealand.
NQR was entirely owned by the Gillespie family when it collapsed this week, corporate documents show.
Documents lodged with the corporate regulator show NQR ran at consecutive losses of $3.6 million and $3.8 million in the past two financial years, on steady sales revenue of about $35 million a year.
NQR's total liabilities of $23 million at June 30, 2017, outweighed its total assets of $7.8 million.
The first creditors meeting is scheduled to be held in Melbourne on February 6.
