Restaurant group goes into administration risking hundreds of jobs

Handmade Burger Co

Restaurant chain The Handmade Burger Co has gone into administration, putting hundreds of jobs at risk.

A team from Leonard Curtis has been appointed to the Midlands-based company, which has outlets across the UK and nearly 900 staff.

Paul Masters, Conrad Beighton and Julien Irving at the Birmingham office of Leonard Curtis Recovery have been appointed joint administrators of both The Sargeant Partnership Ltd and Hand Made Burger Company, which operate as one business under the name Handmade Burger Co.

In a statement, they said: “Regrettably, nine of the 29 restaurants were closed on appointment. The remaining restaurants continue to trade as normal under the joint administrators’ control and they hope to find a solution which will enable as many jobs as possible to be preserved.”

The administrators said they would seek approval from the companies’ creditors to a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), in order to protect the interests of creditors.

“If this cannot be achieved then the joint administrators will seek to find a buyer for the business,” they added.

The administrators said they were in talks with the key stakeholders and creditors of the business to achieve a positive outcome.

Handmade Burger Co was launched in 2006 in Birmingham by brothers Chris and Richard Sargeant, and has grown to 29 restaurants.

It received £600,000 in funding in 2015 from Finance Birmingham to fund its expansion, and refurbish several of its restaurants. Back then, Finance Birmingham said it was a “new period of growth for a company on the up”.

Among its 29 restaurants, Handmade Burger Co has three in Birmingham, including at Brindley Place and Grand Central, two in Leeds, and one each in Hull, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester and Manchester.

In November the Birmingham-based group, which was controlled by the Sargeant family, appointed Kevin Bacon, former managing director of Frankie & Benny’s, as chairman, and it has applied to launch at other sites, including York and Durham.

The company’s Instagram, Facebook and Twitter handle had been removed as of the time of publication, and no contact details were listed for the company.

The casual dining market has been hit in recent years by in influx of competitors from the likes of other burger chains including Five Guys, Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Shake Shack, as well as high rents and increasing labour costs.

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