City-based burger chain goes into administration Grand Central restaurant among nine to have been closed
RESTAURANT chain The Handmade Burger Company has gone into administration with the immediate closure of nine of its 29 sites including the Grand Central branch.
Handmade Burger Company at Intu Victoria Centre, Nottingham, has also closed.
The future of the burger chain is now in the hands of Colmore Rowbased Leonard Curtis Recovery which has been appointed as administrators.
The other Birmingham branches in Bullring and Brindleyplace are among the remaining 20 UK eateries that will remain open.
A spokeswoman for Leonard Curtis Recovery told the Post: “We can confirm that Grand Central, Birmingham, is one of nine Handmade Burger Company restaurants in the UK that we have now closed.”
“Unfortunately, the closures resulted in 163 staff being made redundant out of a total workforce of almost 700.
“The remaining 20 restaurants in the chain will continue to operate as normal under the control of the joint administrators.
“All parties are working towards a swift solution to safeguard as many jobs as possible in the remaining restaurants.”
The group, which was founded in Brindleyplace, has closed down its website and social media accounts. Handmade Burger Company was founded by Chris Sargeant who opened the first restaurant in Brindleyplace in 2006.
There has been increased competition from new burger chains in the UK such as Five Guys.
The US brand expanded its UK restaurants in recent years including two branches in Birmingham – Grand Central and Broad Street – and earlier this year it was voted best burger in the UK
In the meantime, more established brands have seen a decline in fortunes.
Last summer, Frankie And Benny’s announced a massive cull on their restaurants and in October Ed’s Easy Diner closed 26 sites.
Birmingham has also seen the rise of independent eateries such as Nosh & Quaff and Original Patty Men which opened in 2015 – welcome additions to the city’s expanding restaurant scene.
Handmade Burger Company’s Birmingham restaurants have been dogged by poor food hygiene.
In 2015, a customer complained after allegedly finding mould on his burger at the Brindleyplace site while another customer at the Bullring branch claimed she found a fly in a burger.
And earlier this year the Brindleyplace branch was given a zero food hygiene.
Leonard Curtis Recovery