Scottish chef group to sell Glasgow base after cash vanishes

An alleged £30,000 fraud involving a series of forged cheques at the Scottish Chefs Centre has prompted the body to sell its Glasgow base to ease a cash-flow crisis.

Police have been called in to investigate the scam, believed to have been orchestrated by a member of staff, but no one had been arrested as Caterer went to press.

The incident came to light as the centre was already struggling to make ends meet following a fire last October, which caused more than £100,000 damage.

Chief executive Brian Hannan said the disappearance of £30,000 had proved the final straw. "If this theft had not taken place, we would have had enough money to ride this out and would probably have been open very quickly," he explained.

"After the fire, we thought we would reopen around Christmas, but repairs did not start until the beginning of December and continued until a few weeks ago."

Hannan confirmed that the centre, in Glasgow's Pollokshields area, would go on the market this week, with offers invited for more than £375,000.

Some of the money will be used to buy a smaller property in Glasgow or Edinburgh, which Hannan hoped would be open by the autumn.

He was confident that it would recover lost business. "We broke even in the first year and, even taking into account the thefts, we would have made a small profit in year two and a big profit this year," he added.