The business, which started making furniture in 1868, was left with few options and has decided to close, resulting in its 17 employees losing their jobs.
The company had been under financial pressure for many years and, in the end, there was no money left to keep it going, chief executive Allister Sneddon said.
‘We have just had a lack of orders coming through. In all honesty, we’ve kept it going a lot longer than we probably should have,’’ he said.
‘‘And we’ve run out of money to give it a boost.’’
Otago Furniture is a division of Chasmont Finance, both companies having come out of Butterfields when the company split into two. Chasmont Finance would continue trading.
A fifth-generation owner, Mr Sneddon said it was a shock to the 17 staff when he told them earlier this week.
‘‘It was awful. I think if anybody says it’s not awful, then they have no idea.
‘‘I tried to be as open with them as possible, but it still came as a huge shock.
‘‘They knew that we were in a very quiet time. When you’ve got master craftsmen painting doors because you’ve got nothing else to do, they must realise it’s not enough work.’’
Staff would work through to the end of May, he said. There were no redundancy packages for the employees at this stage, but once everything was tidied up then what was left over would be distributed to the staff, Mr Sneddon said.
He said the business had only made a profit once since 2017 — and it ‘‘wasn’t enough to cover a week’s wages’’.
There were many reasons for company’s demise, he said.
‘‘Covid killed us. We kept all the staff. We paid them at 100%. We didn’t drop their wages or hours or anything.
‘‘And with the Covid shutdown, all the hotels that we would renovate or supply furniture to, none of them did their renovations. And then they didn’t come back, held on for year after year after year, thinking it’s going to be next year, it’s going to be next year.’’
He said they never came back and the business had borrowed a lot of money to stay afloat.
It had just reached breaking point and there was no more money to give.
It was now in a hole, he said but declined to say how much was owed.
‘‘We’ve tried so hard. You wouldn’t believe how much effort has gone into trying to keep it going.
‘‘We do owe our staff everything. ’’
Mr Sneddon said he had been working 60 to 100-hour weeks trying to find a solution, having taken over as chief executive in October last year.
His niece was the sixth generation of the family to have worked for the company.
The partner went to Australia after a few years and the company became the Otago Chair Co in 1911. It opened a shop in the Octagon in 1924 called Butterfields and stayed there for more than 60 years.
