As Danny Assagby the man who bought down Theatre At Home & the Sydney based Lifestyle Store was being told that one of his former finance Companies was being hit with an $11M fine by a Federal Court Judge, it was revealed that the Deputy Commissioner of taxation was also hitting another Assagby linked Company with an application to wind the business up for unpaid tax bills.

Assagby the CEO of Hudson Homes and Build Buddy told ChannelNews that he was only an “early seed investor” in Stacked a franchised Company operation who describe themselves as a national retailer who delivered ‘Mouth-watering sandwiches made from locally and ethically sourced ingredients”.

The only problem is that the Companies franchisee pitch spelt out a very different story with franchisees who have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and are now claiming that they were “mislead” told, that the business that originated in Sydney was “Founded by partners, and long-standing friends Steven Khawaga and Danny Assagby and that the pair had a wealth of business experience.

“Danny Assagby left & Steven (Khawaga right at opening of new Stacked franchisee operation.

Sitting in Assabgy’s Paramatta NSW office last year after he had called in the administrators for Theatre At Home, he told me that he was a “key investor in the Stacked business” and that the business was “doing well”.

Operated nationally with stores in both NSW and Queensland the Companies own web site that is still spruiking franchisee opportunities claims that “Danny (Assagby” and Steven (Khawaga) were the founders of Stacked.

They go on to claim that franchisees should invest because these two expired businessmen ” brought their expertise in hospitality, business, and equity to create a brand that’s already making a mark in the industry”.

Franchisees who forked out between $250,000 and $400,000 for what was described, as a “turnkey offering” have told ChannelNews that what they were sold was “A dud”.

They describe Stacked as a business that was “never going to be viable” and that the whole franchise model being pitched by the Company was “flawed”.

One franchisee who decided to get out of the IT business having previously worked for Amazon said that they lost “everything” within 12 months after taking on a Stacked franchisee business in Westfield Penrith,

On the Stacked Companies web site franchisees can get access to common questions.

One question is ‘How long does the application process for a franchisee take?’ the answer on the site is 2-3 months.

In the case of the Westfield Penrith franchisee, it was less than 48 hours with the franchisee claiming that they were pressured to sign a deal or “risk losing an opportunity”.

Danny Assagby seen right at a franchisee fair with centre Steven Khawaga.

The franchisee also claims that the consultant from DC Strategies, pressured them to use a solicitor nominated by the Company and that they now believe that they “got bad advice”.

One franchisee in Blacktown failed after just six months with Stacked moving to resell the operation despite claims that the business knew that their business model was “flawed”,

A visit to the Seek Business web site where organisations sell franchise opportunities it reveals that Stacked is still trying to sell Stacked franchised businesses, there is no mention of the current ATO action to wind the business up, or the financial position the business is in.

Two Stacked businesses are listed on the Sunshine Coast and on the Gold Coast as being available immediately to be franchised.

The asking fee for the Sunshine Coast franchise is between $300,000 and $450,000 for the Gold Coast franchise Stacked are seeking up to $650,000.

Potential franchisees are told they can “Tap into potential earnings to open your 3rd, 4th, 5th location”.

They are also told that a Stacked franchisee is an “Opportunity to step into a seamless world of process, procedures & top tier operations”.

They also use Danny Assabgy’s name to spruik his involvement in the business.

What’s not known is whether Stacked is actually solvent due to the ATO Action.

ChannelNews understands that the business has already off loaded their own five corporate stores, according to sources with one franchisee claiming that they were never told that the Corporate stores had been sold.

We have also been told that under the auspices of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission one franchisee wanted to engage in mediation.

“The only problem is that the Stacked executives did not want mediation” the franchisee said.

The application for the winding up of Stacked Australia Pty Ltd was lodged on the 27th of March 2025 with a hearing set down for the 30th of April 2025 at the Federal Court in Sydney.

According to one franchisee the operators of Stacked engaged in “Mental Abuse”.

They claimed that they were always told that he the issues in the business was because franchisees “didn’t know how to run a business”.

According to Vinod David the former CEO of Theatre At Home which a Danny Assagby linked Company had committed to invest $5M in before they collapsed with debts of over $20M the situation was similar to what is being reported by Stacked franchisees.

“Because of problems elsewhere Danny never wanted to do a franchisee model, he insisted on a licence model,” said Vinod.

“What potential licensees were never told was that Danny Assagby never completed the promised funding because of problem problems in other businesses”.

ChannelNews now understands that those problems relate to the problems emerging with Stacked and the action taken by the Australian Companies and Investment Commission against Equiti Financial Services Pty Ltd which has been placed into liquidation and DOD Bookkeeping Pty Ltd which was hit with an $11M fine.