Hummus Brothers in administration after 13 years
Mediterranean restaurant brand Hummus Brothers has fallen into administration after 13 years of operation.
The group's six London sites in Soho, Holborn, St Paul's, Exmouth Market, Gray's Inn Road and Eastcheap have closed due to the "perfect storm" of rising costs, reduced demand and over-supply on the high street which led to the business being unable to generate enough cash to keep running.
The administrators determined that the company would not be able to trade owing to its financial position and property agents have been instructed to market the leases.
The group released a statement which read: "As you may have read in the press, a number of brands have been going through tough times on the high street.
"Like them, we have experienced a perfect storm of rising costs, reduced demand and over-supply in the market. The combination of the pound falling after the Brexit vote which pushed up the costs of our raw ingredients as well as property rents and business rates going up ever higher, make the high street a very difficult place to operate in at this time.
"For the last 12 months, we explored ways to pivot away from the high street and investigated opportunities of working in canteens of large corporates as well as taking on vans which can operate in street food markets and festivals. We also worked with a specialist to help us launch a supermarket product in one of the major UK operators.
"Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, the business didn't generate enough cash to keep running until we changed course so, very reluctantly and sadly, we had to close the business."
Ben Woodthorpe and Simon Harris of ReSolve Group have been appointed joint administrators.
Woodthorpe said: "The company has suffered from a loss of revenue in recent times driven by rising product costs and greater competition in its sector. The outlets are sited in favourable locations in London and so the current focus is trying to maximise recoveries for creditors."
University friends Ronen Givon and Christian Mouyset opened the first Hummus Brothers on Wardour Street in London's Soho in August 2005.
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