The owner of Byron Burger has said it will permanently shut nine restaurants after falling into administration.
Famously Proper, which owns Byron and fried chicken brand Mother Clucker, currently has 21 casual dining restaurants across the UK, however, the closure will see only 12 continue to trade.
With 12 restaurants remaining open, around 365 jobs have been saved, however, as a result of the closures, 218 jobs will have to be cut.
The administrators from Interpath Advisory said they would provide support to those impacted by the redundancies as a "matter of priority".
The company was set up after the Mayfair-based private equity firm Calveton rescued Byron from a previous administration in 2020 following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The administrators were appointed on Friday and immediately confirmed the company has been sold in a pre-pack administration to Tristar Foods, a new company linked to Calveton.
Interpath Advisory said the company had faced "significant challenges" over the last 12 months which were driven by rising costs, principally food and utilities, together with a reduction in customer spending as a result of the current cost-of-living crisis.
It said: "Following an exploration of a number of options to safeguard the future of the business, no solvent offers were forthcoming, and the directors took the difficult decision to file for the appointment of administrators."
Alongside this, Byron, like many other hospitality venues was hit hard by rising inflation throughout 2022.
Claire Winder, managing director at Interpath Advisory and joint administrator, said: “Like many other companies across the hospitality sector, Byron had seen a boost in trading following the end of the COVID lockdown measures.
"However, the sky-high inflation seen in 2022 saw costs spiral and resulted in reduced customer spend, which in turn placed significant cashflow pressure on the business."
After falling into trouble in 2020, the burger chain Byron closed 31 of its sites at a cost of around 650 jobs.
At the time the burger chain operated more than 50 restaurants and was majority-owned by Three Hills Capital Partners.
Before this, Byron fell into trouble in 2018 and had to go through a restructuring exercise to erase its hefty debt burden which closed some of its underperforming restaurants.
Byron has become another victim of the "casual dining" downfall which has occurred over the last few years which has seen a number of chain restaurants fall into financial difficulty and have to close a number of their venues.
Other examples include Bella Italia, Cafe Rouge, Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) and Pizza Express.
Which Byron Burger restaurants are closing?
The following Byron Burger branches are closing immediately:
- Bluewater
- Chelmsford
- Edinburgh Lothian Road
- Leeds
- London - Wembley
- Manchester
- Milton Keynes
- Salisbury
- Southampton
