Lunch Garden claims to be “working intensively” with the curators and CIM Capital to finalize a recovery plan as quickly as possible.
The company has had a difficult few years recently, particularly struggling to recover from the financial impact of mandatory closures linked to the pandemic. Despite the last two more encouraging years, it remained dependent on financial injections from its main shareholder, the British fund ICG, “which was no longer viable”, she notes.
gullThis is an extremely difficult decision, but it is the only way to ensure a sustainable future and retain as many jobs as possible
The relaunch of Lunch Garden will be done with 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, said CEO Stephan Brouwers. There is still no certainty regarding independent restaurants.
The Antwerp fund CIM Capital 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.
gullThe investor is convinced of maintaining Lunch Garden’s unique position on the Belgian market
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.”
Unions shocked: “Disarray and amazement”
If the announcement Monday morning by the management of Lunch Garden of a bankruptcy of the restaurant brand followed by a partial recovery confirmed the fears born for several days, even weeks, the union organizations are no less shocked by the turn of events.
“It’s dismay, stupefaction,” summed up Stéphane Piron, federal secretary of Setca, after leaving the extraordinary works council. For the workers concerned, some of whom have been active at Lunch Garden for decades, it’s as if life stopped, the union official lamented, looking defeated.
gullWe were unable to make our case to try to reduce the number of layoffs
End-of-year bonuses and salaries for the month of January, despite management’s promises, will not be paid soon. “This will only happen in several months, via the business closure fund,” lamented Stéphane Piron.
The so-called “silent bankruptcy” procedure, which Lunch Garden management used to find a buyer, is also not passed on to worker representatives. “We are faced with a fait accompli. This completely puts the union organizations out of the game,” denounced Sandra Antenucci, permanent secretary for the CSC Food and Services. A feeling of powerlessness and injustice shared by Stéphane Piron: “We were unable to put forward our arguments to try to reduce the number of layoffs”.
+ UPDATE | Lunch Garden: here is the list of restaurants which will close, 30% of staff fired in the others
