This therefore means that 20 restaurants will not reopen their doors, including 2 in the province of Liège. Here is the list of restaurants affected by the closure: Flemalle, HannutAntwerp Inno Meer, Arlon, Auderghem, Berchem-Ste-Agathe, Bruxelles Rue Neuve (Inno), Edegem, Evere, Froyennes, Gent De Sterre, Hasselt, Libramont, Messancy, St. Denijs-Westrem, St.-Kruis Brugge, Waterloo Centre, Waterloo (Mont-Saint-Jean), Wépion, Wilrijk.
According to our information, Ans, Boncelles, Eupen, Fléron, Herstal and Rocourt therefore remain open.
Half of Lunch Garden workers keep their jobs
Around 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 told Belga on Monday. There is still no certainty regarding independent restaurants.
The Antwerp CIM Capital Fund and the trustee will meet on Monday afternoon. “We are in the final stretch to reach an agreement between the investor and the curator,” said Stephan Brouwers. “It is still too early to obtain further clarity, but we explicitly intend to inform our staff first.”
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 underlined.
Pandemic cited as reason for financial difficulties
The restaurant chain admits to having experienced “difficult” years. Mandatory closures during the Covid-19 pandemic 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 has been “a positive trend in revenue and operating profit” over the past two years, “it has proven insufficient to support the necessary investments,” Lunch Garden added. 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 as early as today.”
