A beloved UK grab-and-go food chain has announced multiple ‘unprofitable’ branches scattered across the country will close.
It isn’t just small, independent businesses within the hospitality sector that are suffering, some of the titans are struggling too, with BrewDog, Starbucks, and Costa Coffee all shutting branches this year.
The latest casualty is a ‘healthy’ fast food veteran that opened its first ever store in Carnaby Street in 2004 .
Over the years, the brand had expanded across Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, and was once in the United States too.
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However, two months - after one of its original co-founders announced he would be buying the business back from Asda Express - it was revealed that a major chain restructure was necessary.
This week, it was reported that this has resulted in a number of restaurants and franchises closing up shop.
As stated by the BBC, the reason for the closures was because the business, Leon, was losing about £10m a year.
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Leon owner John Vincent has cited these losses to the challenges of changing work patterns.
The businessman said and that after an initial review of the company, the ‘immediate priority’ was to close ‘the most unprofitable restaurants’.
"In many cases we have found other brands to replace us, and in others we will be asking the landlords to take the leases back and find better suited operators themselves," he added.
The outlet wrote that the company has teamed up with Pret A Manger to help staff who cannot take jobs in other Leon outlets find further employment.
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Vincent has also used the opportunity to call out the UK government, claiming ‘for every pound we receive from the customer, around 36p goes to the government in tax, and about 2p ends up in the hands of the company’.
“It's why most players are reporting big losses,” he alleged.
It’s believed up to 20 of the current 54 Leon stores could close in the coming weeks, including stores in London, Brighton, and Manchester.
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The Guardian reports that the business has hired advisers from Quantuma after applying for an administration order.
It aims to put the company into administration as soon as possible, a process which will help it to manage debt payments as it attempts to secure its long-term future, the outlet stated.
“We will rebuild Leon on its core values and I hope to be providing jobs to many more people once we have returned to profitability and can continue to grow again,” Vincent said.
Ella Scott