A chef behind a large-scale swindle involving chicken schnitzels has been ordered to pay more than $70,000 in damages.

During a routine workplace dispute, the Federal Circuit Court uncovered a bizarre case involving tens of thousands of chicken schnitzels and hundreds of missing quiches.

In 2008, Kobina Amponsem was employed as the head chef at a hotel in Wollongong, but he was stood down in 2011 when thousands of schnitzels and quiches went missing from the kitchen.

After an investigation, Amponsem stood accused by his employer of fraudulently funnelling more than 100,000 chicken schnitzels through a family business, to scam his employer and number of others out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The court found that Amponsem had for years been buying bulk quantities of chicken schnitzels for around $1.80 each and then on-selling them to his employer, Laundy Pty Ltd, for between $2.80 and $2.90.

But the court found Amponsem never told his boss how cheaply he was buying the schnitzels, nor that the company doing the on-selling was his wife's.

Amponsem told the court he did not reveal the information because his employer "didn't ask".

The court heard the business only realised something was wrong when after a few quiches went missing the company decided to audit its history of quiche and schnitzel sales.

Chef made 'secret profit of $1 per schnitzel'

The audit found that of the 122,510 schnitzels Amponsem bought, almost 10,000 of them were missing, and of the 324 quiches he had ordered, only 111 could be accounted for.

Amponsem's employer also argued he had "by fraudulent means... misused his position to... gain a secret profit of $1 per schnitzel".

Two years ago the Wollongong Local Court threw out charges of criminal fraud against Amponsem.

As a result, earlier this year Amponsem decided to chase his employer for outstanding wages in the Federal Circuit Court.

But the case backfired, and last week Judge Nicholas Manousaridis ruled that it was actually Amponsem who owed the most money.

He ordered Amponsem pay the company just over $72,000 in damages, a figure worked out by the court using a special "schnitzel formula".