Handmade Burger Co closes with 283 jobs lost

Handmade Burger Co has fallen into administration again, this time closing all 18 of its restaurants and resulting in the loss of 283 jobs.

Falling into administration for the second time, administrators said the UK's casual dining market had suffered from "overcapacity" and sales at Handmade Burger Co had almost halved over the last four years, adding that "considerable efforts" had been made to secure a sale of the company, however this had not proved possible.

David Griffiths, Conrad Beighton and Paul Masters of Leonard Curtis Business Rescue & Recovery were appointed joint administrators of the Burger Chain, trading as Handmade Burger Co, earlier today.

Griffiths said: "The casual dining market in the UK has experienced significant challenges over the last four years, largely as a result of overcapacity in the sector, which has resulted in a significant number of insolvencies.

"Sales at Handmade Burger Co. restaurants have almost halved during this period, which has proved to be unsustainable. It is disappointing that circumstances have meant that a sale of the business has not been possible in this case, but our focus now should be on those employees affected by this difficult news. We will work hard to provide them with all necessary assistance to claim for monies which remain due to them."

The restaurant group originally fell into administration in 2017, which resulted in the closure of nine of its 29 restaurants. The collapse was blamed on increasing competition, hot weather and increased threat of terror attacks. The group, which launched in Birmingham in 2006, was then sold out of administration.