A works council was held at Lunch Garden this morning. The group announced to its employees that the relaunch will be carried out with approximately half of the current staff, given that a fund has come forward to take over part of the restaurants.
An extraordinary company council meeting is underway at Lunch Garden this morning: staff will be confirmed that the company is going bankrupt, which will be accompanied by job losses.
The CIM Capital fund came forward to take over part of the restaurants. This will allow 42 restaurants (out of 61) to remain open, employees were told. Which therefore implies that 19 will have to close their doors. Here is the list of restaurants affected by the closure: Froyennes, Inno Rue Neuve Bxl, Messancy, St-Denijs-Westrem, St-Kruis Brugge, Wilrijk, Waterloo, Auderghem, Evere, Inno Meer, Flémalle, Libramont, Wépion, Berchem, Gent de Stere, Hasselt, Hannut, Hedegem, Arlon .
In the restaurants taken over, we learn that in total, 50% of employment will be maintained. The relaunch of Lunch Garden will be done with approximately half of the current staff.
About half of Lunch Garden’s workers, or 300 out of 600 (franchisees not included), will be part of the future of the restaurant chain, CEO Stephan Brouwers said this morning. There is still no certainty regarding independent restaurants.
Early in the morning, the announcement of the bankruptcy filing was made during an extraordinary works council meeting. Management announced that a new shareholder, CIM Capital, would relaunch 42 restaurants out of the current 62. The Antwerp fund and the curator will meet on Monday afternoon.
-“We are in the final stretch to reach an agreement between the investor and the curator”said Stephan Brouwers.
The impact of covid which “is still being felt”
The CEO clarified that the investor’s intention is to retain the Lunch Garden concept and relaunch it with viable activities. “The investor is convinced of maintaining Lunch Garden’s unique position on the Belgian market”he stressed. The restaurant chain admits to having experienced years “difficult”. Mandatory closures during the Covid-19 pandemic have had a “profound financial impact that is still being felt”. Some sites have dragged down the performance of the entire chain, and costs have increased due to inflation and high indexing. Although there was “a positive trend in turnover and operating profit” over the last two years, “it proved insufficient to support the necessary investments”added Lunch Garden.
The shareholder ICG therefore had to continue to inject money, which was no longer viable. Lunch Garden hopes to be relaunched as quickly as possible, “maybe today”.
lunch garden bankruptcy business advice job losses
