Coronavirus: GBK gets most recent burger chain to be flipped

The owner of Gourmet Burger Kitchen area (GBK) has kicked off a procedure to offer the chain, creating it the latest informal eating operator to look for an exit amid turbulent buying and selling exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Sky Information has learnt that the new proprietor of Byron, the rival burger chain, is plotting to obtain GBK and mix the two companies.

Hospitality industry resources claimed that Deloitte experienced begun approaching possible potential buyers of GBK in the past 7 days, whilst it was unclear no matter if a transaction would be feasible on a solvent foundation.

GBK’s existing owner, South Africa-centered Famous Models, has indicated that it would not deliver more funding to guidance the Uk operation, which ahead of the pandemic operated from 62 retailers and utilized almost 1,300 employees.

The chain underwent a money restructuring in 2018 in the kind of a business voluntary arrangement which resulted in the closure of dozens of places to eat.

Insiders mentioned that Calveton Uk, which purchased Byron via a pre-pack administration numerous months in the past, experienced by now expressed an desire in attaining GBK.

The Byron transaction concerned just 20 of its 51 websites remaining open up and much more than 50 percent its workforce staying manufactured redundant.

The axed Byron staff included to the grim toll of hospitality business staff members who have dropped their employment given that the start out of the COVID-19 crisis.

Sector specialists think that the scheduled closure of the government’s furlough scheme at the end of Oct is possible to entail substantial new redundancies throughout the sector and further than.

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Deloitte is handling the GBK sale process.

Both equally parties declined to comment.